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BV  4315  .B989  1884 
Wilmot-Buxton,  H.  J.  1843- 

1911. 
Parable  sermons  for  childrer 


PARABLE    SERMONS    EOR    CHILDREN. 


^lataijle   ^ermon^   for 


H.    J/WILMOT-BUXTON,    M.A., 

VICAR  OF  S.  GILE3-IN-THE-W00D,  NORTH   DEVON,   AUTHOR   OF   "MISSION   SERMONS 

FOR  A    YEAR,"    "THE   LORD's  SONG,"    "THE   LIFE  WORTH   LIVING," 

"SUNDAY  SERMONETTES   FOR   A   YEAR,"   ETC. 


JAMES  POTT  &  Co.,  12,  ASTOR  PLACE. 

1884. 


To 
SIR    JAMES    R.    FERGUSSON,    BART. 

OF 

Spitalhaugh,  Peeblesshire,  and 

Hever  Court,  Kent, 

These     Sermons    are     Dedicated. 


^^-^^  ^  >tl; 


iffontcntgi, 


SERMON      I. 
THE     THREE    PICTURES. 

S.  Matt.  xxv.  15,  page. 

"  Unto  one  he  gave  five  talents,  to  another  two,  and  to  another 
one. "  I 

SERMON      II. 
THE    BUILDERS. 

Psalm  cxxvii.  i. 

"Unless  the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labour  in  vain  that 
build  it."  8 

SERMON      III. 
THE     THREE    GIFTS. 

S.  Matt.  II.  11. 

"They  presented  unto  Him  gifts  ;  gold,  and  frankincense,  and 
myrrh."  14 


SERMON     IV. 

THE     TRAVELLERS,    fl.) 

Hebrews  xiii.  14.  page. 

Here  we  have  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one  to  comci"     21 

SERMON      V. 

TEE     TRAVELLERS.     {II.) 

Hebrews  xiii.  14 
Here  we  have  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seelc  one  to  come."     28 

SERMON      VI. 

THE     TRAVELLERS,     fill  J 

Hebrews  xiii.  14. 
Here  we  have  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come."     33 

SERMON     VII. 

THREE     WISHES. 

S.  Luke  xxii.  42. 
,/ 

"  Not  My  will,  but  1  hine,  be  done.  42 

SERMON     VIII. 

THE    STRONG    MAN.     (I.J 

Revelation  xxi.  7. 
"  He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things."  49 


SERMON      IX. 

THE    STRONG     MAN.     (II.) 

Revelation  xxr.  7.  page. 

"He  that  overcomelh  shall  inherit  all  things."  58 

SERMON      X. 

TEE     BEAUTIFUL     GARDEN. 

Romans  v.  12. 
"  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin."'     65 

SERMON     XI. 

TEE    NEW     WOULD. 
Revelation  xxi.  i. 
"I  saw  a  new  Heaven,  and  a  new  earth."  75 

SERMON      XII. 

THE    STRANGE    GUESTS. 

Hebrews  xiii.  2. 

"Be  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers:    for  thereby  some 

have  entertained  angels  unawares."  84 

SERMON      XIII. 
TWO    LIVES. 

S.  Mark  x.  14. 
(P'   "Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  Me."  92 


SERMON     XIV. 
THE    MAGIC    MIRROR. 

S.  Matt.  vii.  5.  page, 

"  First  cast  out  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye  ;  and  thenshalt 
thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thy  brother's  eye."    99 

SERMON      XV. 

THE     CITY    OF     THE     GREAT    KING. 

Psalm  xlviii.  2. 
"The  City  of  the  Great  King."  106 

SERMON     XVI. 

THE     II VI KG     BOOK. 

I  Samuel  in.  9. 
^  "Speak,  Lord,  for  Thy  servant  heareth."  117 


paiaijle  ^eimoii^  fax 
©ijtHrrtn. 


SERMON     I. 


THE     THREE     PICTURES. 


S.  Matt.  xxv.  15. 

"Unto   one  he   gave  five   talents,  to  another  two,   and   to 
another  one." 

You  know,  my  children,  that  a  parable  has  been 
called  an  earthly  story  with  a  Heavenly  meaning. 
Now  I  am  going  to  tell  you  an  earthly  story,  and 
you  must  try  to  tell  me  the  Heavenly  meaning. 
The  story  is  about  a  very  famous  Artist,  who  has 
painted  the  most  wonderful  pictures.  These  pic- 
tures are  very  many,  and  very  different.  They  are 
great  and  small,  some  dark,  others  bright ;  some 
make  you  sing  with  pleasure  when  you  look   at 

A 


^Sarablc  ^rrmoiiiS  far  Cijiltfrni. 


them,  others  make  you  cry  with  terror.  One  pic- 
ture shows  you  the  great  wide  sea,  sparkhng  in  the 
sun,  and  the  shadows  of  the  tall  cliffs  lying  on  it. 
That  is  a  very  lovely  picture.  Then  another 
shows  you  an  earthquake,  where  the  houses  and 
churches  in  a  town  have  all  fallen,  and  the  men  and 
women  and  little  children  are  buried  alive,  and  the 
black,  threatening  sky  hangs  over  all.  That  is  a 
very  terrible  picture.  One  picture  is  that  of  a  little 
rosy  child  playing  in  a  meadow  :  and  another  is 
that  of  a  poor,  white-faced  lad,  lying  on  his  dying 
bed,  his  thin  hand  clasped  in  his  mother's.  Some- 
times this  great  Artist  has  painted  very  simple  pic- 
tures, such  as  a  bunch  of  snowdrops,  or  a  butterfly 
with  gay-coloured  wings ;  but  whatsoever  He  has 
done,  the  picture  is  always  well  done. 

Now  this  great  Artist  had  three  sons,  and  when 
they  were  quite  little  children  their  Father  taught 
them  how  to  paint.  He  showed  them  some  of  His 
own  pictures,  and  they  learnt  to  make  drawings  for 
themselves.  One  day  the  Artist  said  to  His  sons, 
"  I  am  going  away  on  a  long  journey,  I  cannot  tell 
you  when  I  shall  return,  but  you  niust  be  very 
industrious,  and  work  hard  whilst  I  am  away."  Then 
He  led  them  into  His  studio,  or  painting  room, 
which  was  full   of  canvas,   and  easels,  and  paint- 


Crb^  Cbrrc  IStrturriS. 


brushes,  and  pictures,  and  models.  To  each  son 
the  Father  gave  a  piece  of  canvas  to  paint  on.  The 
eldest  son  had  the  largest  piece  of  canvas,  the 
second  had  a  smaller  piece,  and  the  younge>t  had 
the  smallest  canvas  of  all.  Then  said  the  Artist  to 
His  sons,  "  You  must  each  try  to  paint  me  a  good 
picture,  the  best  you  can,  by  the  day  when  I  come 
back  to  you.  You  cannot  paint  equally  well,  but 
you  must  do  the  best  you  can.  All  your  pieces  of 
canvas  are  not  of  the  same  size,  but  each  is  large 
enough  for  the  picture  which  you  can  paint."  Just 
before  He  left  them,  their  Father  told  them  that 
there  were  many  pictures  which  they  might  copy, 
or  they  might  look  at  the  view  from  the  window, 
and  paint  that ;  but  He  advised  them  to  make  one 
particular  picture  their  model.  Then  He  drew 
aside  a  curtain,  and  showed  them  the  portrait  of  a 
very  beautiful  Child  The  Child  was  carrying  a 
white  lily  in  His  Hand,  and  there  was  a  strange,  dark 
shadow  cast  before  Him.  So  the  Artist  went  away 
on  His  long  journey,  and  the  three  sons  were  left 
to  their  work.  The  eldest  stood  before  his  big 
canvas,  and  thought,  "  What  sort  of  picture  shall  I 
paint?'*  At  first  he  determined  to  draw  a  grand 
battle  scene,  full  of  soldiers  in  gay  uniforms,  and 
plunging  horses,  and  waving  flags.    Presently,  when 


|3iiraftlc  ^crmnniS  far  Cftiltirrn. 


he  had  mixed  the  colours,  and  taken  the  paint 
brush,  he  thought  that  he  would  paint  a  picture  of 
a  king  on  his  throne,  with  all  his  lords  and  great 
men  standing  round  him,  and  he  proposed  to  draw 
his  own  portrait  amongst  the  courtiers  of  the  king. 
Then  He  looked  towards  the  picture  of  the  Beau- 
tiful Child,  and  the  Child's  eyes  seemed  to  follow 
him  sadly  and  reproachfully.  So  the  young  painter 
put  away  all  thought  of  the  battle  scene  and  the 
court,  and  set  himself  to  copy  the  likeness  of  the 
Beautiful  Child.  It  was  very  hard  work  at  first. 
The  Child's  face  was  so  pure  and  lovely,  that  the 
painter  felt  that  he  could  never  imitate  it  exactly. 
Sometimes  he  grew  angry  and  impatient  at  failure, 
and  then  he  would  make  ugly  blots  and  stains  with 
his  paint  brush  on  the  picture.  Then  he  was  very 
sorry,  and  would  kneel  down  beside  his  vv^ork,  and 
cry  bitterly ;  and  he  found,  to  his  surprise,  that 
wherever  his  tears  fell  the  ugly  blots  and  stains 
disappeared,  and  he  was  able  to  go  on  with  his 
painting.  At  last  the  picture  was  finished,  but  the 
young,  painter  was  not  satisfied  with  it.  He  felt 
that  it  was  not  half  good  enough — but  he  /laJ  done 
his  best. 

Now,   you  remember,  children,   that  the  second 
son  had  a  smaller  picture  to  paint.     For  some  time 


SDbe  (Tljrcc  i3tcturr9.  '^ 

he  did  no  work,  asking  himself  the  question,  "  What 
sort  of  picture  shall  I  make  ?"  He  thought  to 
himself  that  he  could  not  paint  anything  grand  on 
so  small  a  canvas,  so  he  looked  out  of  the  window 
for  a  subject.  He  saw  that  a  fair  was  being  held 
in  the  town,  music  played,  flags  waved,  and  people 
laughed,  and  danced,  and  sang.  He  said,  "  I  will 
paint  the  fair."  But  after  a  little  while  the  music 
ceased,  and  the  people  went  away,  and  the  lights 
were  put  out,  and  the  streets  were  dark,  and  sad, 
and  deserted.  So  the  boy  grew  weary  of  his  pic- 
ture, and  determined  to  paint  another.  Then  he 
looked  at  the  face  of  the  Beautiful  Child,  and  the 
gentle  eyes  seemed  to  follow  him  reproachfully.  So 
he  set  to  work  to  copy  the  Child's  likeness.  But 
he  had  wasted  much  time  on  other  subjects,  and 
he  made  many  mistakes  in  his  work,  so  that  he 
often  cried,  "  I  shall  never  finish  my  picture  in 
time." 

What  was  the  youngest  son  doing  all  this  time  ? 
He  looked  at  his  small  piece  of  canvas,  and 
thought  — "  What  is  the  use  of  trying  to  paint  on 
such  a  little  thing  as  this  !  No  one  could  make  a 
good  picture  on  it."  So  he  put  the  canvas  away  in 
a  drawer,  and  did  not  try  to  do  anything  with  it, 
but  spent  all  his  time  in  sloth  and  idleness.     One 


parable  ^ciman^  for  Cljinrrrn. 


day  the  great  Artist  came  back  quite  suddenly. 
His  first  words  to  His  sons  were,  "  What  work 
have  you  done  for  Me  ?  Show  Me  your  pictures." 
Then  He  looked  at  his  eldest  son's  work,  and 
smiled  approvingly,  and  said,  "  Well  done,  thou  hast 
been  good  and  faithful."  The  second  son  came  with 
his  picture,  which  was  smaller,  and  on  him  his 
Father  smiled  approvingly,  and  said,  "Well  done, 
thou  hast  been  faithful  in  a  small  thing."  Last  of  all 
came  the  youngest  son,  blushing  with  shame,  and 
carrying  his  empty  canvas  in  his  hand,  and  his 
paints  and  brushes  all  unused — "  I  could  do  no- 
thing with  such  a  little  thing,"  said  he,  "  and  so  I 
hid  it  away  out  of  sight."  Then  his  Father  was 
very  sad,  and  very  angry,  and  He  led  His  two  elder 
sons  with  Him  into  a  new  and  beautiful  house, 
where  there  were  more  lovely  pictures  than  they 
had  ever  yet  seen,  but  the  youngest  son  was  shut 
out. 

Now  tell  me,  my  children,  the  Heavenly  mean- 
ing of  this  earthly  story.  The  great  Artist  is  God, 
who  has  made  the  Heaven  and  the  earth,  and  the 
sea.  And  the  three  sons,  who  are  they  ?  We  our- 
selves, and  all  people  in  the  world.  And  the 
pictures  which  we  have  to  paint  are  our  lives.  The 
painting  room  is  our  place  in  the  world,  where  we 


dT^e  Cftrce  ^icturrrf. 


are  put  to  work.  And  the  portrait  of  the  Holy 
Child  which  we  have  to  copy,  is  the  example  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  told  you  that  in  the  picture 
of  the  Holy  Child  there  was  a  long  dark  shadow. 
You  know  what  that  means  ?  It  is  the  shadow  of 
the  Cross.  That  will  come  into  our  picture  too. 
Now  remember  that  every  day  you  live  you  are 
painting  a  picture — your  life  ;  some  of  you  may  be 
painting  the  picture  of  an  ambitious  life,  full  of 
battle  scenes,  and  kings,  and  courtiers  ;  some  of 
you  may  be  painting  a  picture  of  pleasure  and 
amusement,  like  the  son  who  began  to  make  a 
picture  of  the  fair.  But  if  you  want  to  make  a 
really  good  picture,  if  you  want  to  lead  a  really  good 
life,  you  must  try  to  copy  one  likeness,  that  of  the 
Holy  Child  Jesus. 


SERMON     II. 


THE     BUILDERS. 


Psalm  cxxvii.  i. 

"  Unless  the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labour  in  vain  that 
build  it.'' 

I  SPOKE  to  you  lately,  children,  about  the  great 
Artist  and  His  pictures.  To-day  I  want  to  tell  you 
a  parable  about  some  builders.  There  was  a 
famous  Architect,  who  had  built  great  cities,  and 
httle  villages,  marble  palaces,  and  simple  thatched 
cottages.  Some  of  His  buildings  were  very  grand, 
others  very  simple,  but  all  were  alike  well  built. 
These  houses  were  let  to  different  people  to  live  in, 
and  some  took  care  of  them,  and  kept  them  in 
repair,  and  others  did  not.     The  great  Architect 


Cbc  JiuiltrcriS. 


had  two  servants  or  apprentices  in  His  workshop, 
and  He  taught  them  how  to  build,  and  ahvays  gave 
them  these  three  pieces  of  advice — First,  Always 
build  on  a  good  foundation.  Next,  Always  choose 
good  materials.  Thirdly,  Build  slowly.  After  a 
time,  the  great  Architect  sent  His  servants  into  a 
new  country,  and  told  them  each  to  build  a  good 
house  that  would  stand.  Well,  the  two  servants 
emigrated  to  the  new  country,  where  they  found 
many  other  people  all  building,  some  well,  others 
badly.  One  servant  remembered  his  master's 
advice, — Build  on  a  good  foundation.  So  he  got 
workmen  together,  and  searched  about  for  a  likely 
spot  to  build  on.  When  he  found  it,  he  cleared 
away  all  the  soil  and  rubbish,  until  he  came  to  the 
solid  rock,  and  there  he  built  his  house.  Remem- 
bering his  master's  advice, — Ahvays  choose  good 
materials^ — he  hewed  out  seven  pillars  of  stone  to 
support  the  roof,  and  to  each  pillar  he  gave  a  name. 
You  must  try  to  remember  their  names.  The  first 
pillar  was  called  Faith^  the  second  Obedience^  the 
third  Love^  the  fourth  Truths  the  fifth  Gentleness^ 
the  sixth  Prayei\  and  the  seventh  Work.  And, 
again  remembering  the  master's  teaching,  the  ser- 
vant built  slowly.  On  the  top  of  the  roof,  high 
over  all,  he  fixed  a  great  stone  Cross,  so  that  when- 


10  parable  ;a'rrmoui^  for  Cljinrrnt. 

ever  the  sun  was  shining,  the  house  was  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Cross.  At  last  the  house  was 
finished. 

Now  what  was  the  other  builder  doing  ?  He 
went  to  work  in  a  very  different  way.  He  laughed 
at  his  companion  for  taking  so  much  pains,  and 
went  down  to  the  river-side,  where  the  sand  lay 
smooth  and  yellow.  He  determined  to  built  there, 
and  forgot  all  about  His  master's  advice,  and  the 
good  foundation.  And  he  forgot  also  the  advice 
about  building  slowly,  so  he  hurried  on  the  work, 
that  he  might  fmish  his  house,  and  enjoy  himself. 
Neither  did  he  choose  good  materials  for  his  building, 
but  used  any  wood  or  stone  which  came  in  his  way. 
Instead  of  the  seven  pillars  of  the  house,  this 
builder  had  but  one,  and  that  was  called  StIJis/iness. 
The  house  was  finished  at  last.  But  there  was 
no  Cross   to   cast   its   shadow   over   the  building. 

The  winter  came,  and  the  wind  roared,  and  the 
storms  raged,  and  the  floods  rose,  and  beat  upon  the 
two  houses.  The  gentle  river  of  summer  became  a 
foaming  torrent,  which  dashed  against  the  walls 
of  the  buildings.  But  the  waves  beat  in  vain 
against  one  house,  and  in  vain  the  wind  shrieked 
at  the  windows,  and  the  lightnings  flashed,  the 
house  stood  firm.     Why,  my  children  ?     Because  it 


Cbe  »uinifrrf.  11 


was  founded   upon  a  rock,   and  was  well-built  of 
good  materials. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  other  house.  It  seemed 
strong  enough,  and  safe  enough  in  fair  weather,  but 
when  the  storm  came,  the  sandy  foundation  began 
to  sink  and  tremble.  The  one  weak  pillar,  called 
Selfishness,  began  to  totter  and  give  way,  and  pre- 
sently the  whole  building  fell  to  pieces  like  a  house 
of  cards,  and  the  flood  swept  away  the  ruins,  and 
the  poor  foolish  builder  with  them. 

Now  we  must  think  of  the  Heavenly  meaning. 
You  know,  of  course,  that  God  is  the  great  Architect, 
who  has  built  up  all  the  cities  and  villages,  and  the 
mountains  and  islands,  \^'e  are  all  His  servants, 
and  He  sends  us  into  this  world,  a  new  country,  to 
build.  What  are  we  to  build  ?  Good  lives,  lives 
which  will  stand,  and  last  for  ever.  Remember  the 
lessons  of  the  Architect.  First,  we  must  build  on 
a  good  foundation,  and  our  foundation  must  be 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Rock  of  Ages.  There  is  a  text  in 
one  of  S.  Paul's  Epistles  about  this,  "  Other  foun- 
dation can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is 
Jesus  Christ."  (i  Cor.  iii.  ii.) 

Next,  we  must  choose  good  materials  to  build  up 
our  lives  with.  What  are  they,  do  you  think  ?  Good 


12  Parable  ^trmau^  for  Cbtltrrrn. 


companions,    good    books,    good   work,    innocent 
amusement. 

And,  thirdly,  remember  to  build  slo7vly.  Good 
lives  are  built  up  by  degrees.  Great  generals,  and 
statesmen,  and  lawyers,  and  clergymen,  became 
great  slowly  by  learning,  so  do  good  Christians. 
Then  we  must  remember  the  seven  pillars  of  our 
house.  Can  you  tell  me  their  names  ?  The  first 
pillar  must  be  Faith  in  God,  making  us  trust  all  to 
Him.  And  then  comes  Obedience^  for  if  we  believe 
in  God  we  shall  try  to  obey  Him.  Then  there 
must  be  Love,  love  to  God,  and  to  each  other,  no 
good  life  can  be  built  up  without  the  pillar  of  Love. 
Next  comes  Iruth.  Every  noble  life  is  built  upon 
Truth  and  Honesty.  And  we  must  not  leave  out 
Gentleness^  which  makes  our  building  so  sweet 
and  beautiful ;  nor  Prayer,  without  which  we  can- 
not make  a  good  building ;  nor  Work,  that  we  may 
be  useful  ourselves,  and  be  able  to  help  others. 
These  are  the  seven  pillars  that  keep  up  a  good 
Christian  life.  And  above  all  this  life,  my  children, 
there  must  be  the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ.  Our  life 
cannot  be  good,  cannot  be  what  God  loves,  unless 
we  deny  ourselves,  and  give  up  our  own  way  ;  that  is 
living  under  the  shadow  of  the  Cross. 

We  have  looked  at  the  house  built  on  the  rock, 


Ct)c  Jiuinrcr^.  13 


the  holy  life  founded  on  Jesus  ;  now  look  at  the 
house  which  fell,  the  life  which  was  lost.  The 
foundation  of  sand  is  this  world's  pleasure  and  sin, 
the  pillar  is  selfishness,  not  love,  or  faith,  or 
obedience ;  a  building  like  that  cannot  stand 
against  the  storms.  Those  storms  are  the  tempta- 
tions, and  sorrows,  and  losses  of  this  life,  which 
come  to  all  of  us.  The  flood  beat  against  both 
houses,  remember,  so  troubles  and  temptations 
come  to  good  and  bad  alike,  but  only  the  lives 
founded  on  Jesus  can  stand  against  them.  Now,  I 
want  you  to  ask  yourselves  a  very  serious  question, 
WJiat  am  I  building  1 


SERMON     III. 


THE     THREE     GIFTS. 


S.  Matthew  ii.  11. 

' '  They  presented  unto  Him  gifts  ;   gold,  and  frankincense, 
and  myrrh." 

It  was  the  holy  season  of  Epiphany,  when  the 
Christ-Child  was  first  shown  to  the  Gentiles. 
Among  the  many  who  went  to  Church,  was  a  little 
boy,  one  who  loved  no  place  so  well  as  God's 
House,  with  its  "  dim,  religious  light,"  and  its  fair 
white  columns,  and  its  solemn  music.  He  was  a 
very  quiet  little  boy,  and  thoughtful  beyond  his 
years.  His  friends  said  he  was  a  dreamer,  and  if 
so,  he  had  very  beautiful  dreams  sometimes.  Often 
he  would  go  into  Church  alone,  when  there  was  no 


etc  Cbrcc  ^tfW.  lo 

service,  and  kneel  down  and  think,  and  perhaps 
pray.  It  seemed  to  him  that,  when  the  hght 
streamed  through  the  painted  windows,  and  fell 
upon  his  Prayer-Book,  he  could  see  Heaven  opened, 
and  catch  a  ghmpse  of  that  wondrous  City  which  he 
had  read  about  in  the  Revelation  of  S.  John.  It 
seemed,  too,  that  sometimes  the  pictured  saints  and 
angels  in  the  window  used  to  smile  upon  him,  as 
though  they  were  pleased  to  see  a  little  boy  in 
Church.  But  there  was  one  painted  window  at 
which  the  little  boy  was  never  tired  of  looking.  It 
represented  the  wise  men  offering  their  gifts  to  the 
Child  Christ.  Whenever  he  looked  at  this  picture 
there  was  always  one  thought  in  his  mind—  Oh  ! 
that  I  might  see  Jesus,  and  that  I  might  give  Him 
an  offering !  It  was  the  same  when  the  organ  pealed 
through  the  Church,  and  the  voices  of  choir  and 
people  sang  of  the  Guiding  Star,  and  the  gladness 
with  which  men  of  old  followed  it  to  find  Jesus. 
The  child  was  always  saying  to  himself — If  I  could 
only  see  Jesus,  and  take  Him  a  gift !  One  day, 
when  he  had  heard  the  wondrous  story  of  Epiphany 
over  again,  the  little  boy  remained  in  Church,  lost 
in  thought.  And  there  seemed  to  come  a  dream  or 
vision  to  Him.  He  fancied  that  the  organ  was 
being  played  very  soft  and  low,  as  though  an  angel's 


Ifi  iSarable  ^crmoniS  for  Cbinrrnt. 


fingers  were  touching  the  keys,  and  as  the  child 
gazed  on  his  favourite  window,  gradually  the  figures 
in  it  seemed  to  live,  and  move.  He  saw  a  very 
brilliant  star,  like  a  comet,  shining  down  from  the 
sky,  and  making  all  the  scene  bright.  The  scene 
was  a  rude  stable,  and  the  oxen  and  other  animals 
were  standing  there.  And  they  seemed  to  the 
child's  eyes  to  be  real  living  cattle,  and  to  be  bowing 
their  heads  reverently  before  a  little  Baby,  wrapped 
up  in  coarse,  poor  clothing.  At  first  the  little  boy 
could  not  see  the  face  of  the  Babe,  but  He  observed 
that  She  who  held  Him  in  her  arms  was  exceeding 
beautiful.  But  presently,  as  the  wondrous  light 
streamed  on  the  scene,  the  little  boy  could  see  the 
features  of  the  Babe,  and  he  thought  that  they 
smiled  lovingly  upon  him.  After  awhile,  the  child 
saw  three  strangers  kneeling  before  the  Mother  and 
her  Babe,  and  he  knew  that  they  must  be  the  wise 
men,  the  three  kings  who  had  come  from  the  East 
to  worship  Jesus.  As  he^  watched  the  wonderful 
scene,  the  child  saw  the  wise  men  open  their  stores 
of  treasure,  and  the  first,  kneehng  very  humbly, 
presented  his  offering  of  gold  to  the  Holy  Babe. 
The  watching  child  could  see  the  light  flash  upon 
the  precious  gift  as  it  was  presented.  Then  the 
second  stranger  drew  near,  and  held  in  his  hand  a 


^\)t  nvte  (SifW.  17 

kind  of  silver  dish,  from  which  rose  a  sweet-smelHng 
smoke,  and  for  a  moment  veiled  the  scene  from 
the  eyes  of  the  child,  and  he  knew  that  this  was 
the  gift  of  frankincense.  Then  the  third  of  the 
strangers  approached  the  manger,  and  offered  some- 
thing wrapped  in  a  fine  linen  cloth,  and  the  child 
noticed  that  the  faces  of  the  Holy  Babe  and  His 
Mother  were  sad,  so  the  little  boy  remembered  that 
this  v/as  the  gift  of  myrrh  in  token  of  the  burial  of 
Jesus.  By  and  by  the  scene  faded  away,  and  the 
child  saw  only  the  painted  window  as  before.  But 
now  the  longing  to  see  Jesus  came  upon  him 
stronger  than  ever,  and  as  he  kneeled  in  Church, 
he  prayed  most  earnestly — "  O  Jesus,  let  me  see 
Thee,  and  give  Thee  an  offering."  Then  it  seemed 
to  the  little  boy  that  someone  whispered  in  his 
ear,  or  perhaps  he  only  remembered  what  he  had 
heard  before,  but  the  words  came  back  to  him  now, 
"  Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  the  least 
of  these  My  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  Me." 
When  the  child  went  home,  his  mother  gave  him  a 
ripe,  rosy  apple,  and  the  boy,  for  he  was  but  a  child, 
and  thought  as  a  child,  was  delighted  with  the  fruit. 
Just  as  he  was  going  to  eat  it,  he  remembered  a 
poor,  sick  lad,  who  lived  in  a  back  street  in  the 
town.     This  lad  had  been  a  teacher  in  the  Sunday 

B 


18  iSarablc  ^'crmaui^  for  Ct)iltfrcn. 


School,  and  had  won  the  love  of  all  the  children 
by  his  gentle  schooling;  specially  he  loved  the 
little  boy  of  whom  I  am  telling  you,  and  used  to 
call  him  his  little  flower.  Now  the  young  teacher 
had  been  ill  for  a  long  time,  and  there  was  then  no 
hope  that  he  would  ever  be  well  again  in  this 
world.  Presently  the  little  boy  was  standing  by  the 
sick  lad's  bed,  and  giving  him  the  apple  of  which 
he  thought  so  much.  It  was  not  much  perhaps, 
but  it  was  all  he  had,  and  it  brought  comfort  to  the 
parched  lips  of  the  dying  teacher. 

When  next  the  child  went  to  Church,  and  heard 
the  glad  lessons  of  Epiphany,  he  seemed  to  see  once 
more  the  vision  in  the  painted  window.  Once  more 
the  wise  men  brought  their  offerings,  and  to  his 
surprise  the  child  saw  among  the  gifts  which  lay  at 
the  feet  of  Jesus  an  apple  of  pure  gold.  And  there 
came  back  to  him  the  old  words,  which  the  dying 
teacher  had  spoke  to  him,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have 
done  it  unto  the  least  of  these  My  brethren, 
ye  have  done  it  unto  Me."  And  so  the  little  boy 
learnt  how  he  could  offer  gold  to  Jesus  by  doing 
good  to  His  people.  But  still  he  wondered  how  he 
could  offer  frankincense  and  myrrh,  as  the  wise  men 
had  done.  That  night  when  he  was  asleep,  the 
child  dreamed  a  very  beautiful  dream.     He  thought 


Cfie  Cbtce  ^I'fW.  19 


an  angel  came  to  him,  bearing  a  silver  censer  in  his 
hand.  And  as  he  swung  the  censer  to  and  fro 
there  went  up  a  cloud  of  sweet  incense.  And  the 
angel  smiled  upon  the  child,  and  said,  "  these  are 
the  prayers  of  all  holy  children  who  pray  to  Jesus, 
and  your  prayers  of  to-day  are  among  them.''  Then 
the  little  boy  was  very  glad,  for  he  knew  that  he  had 
offered  two  gifts  to  Jesus — gold  and  frankincense. 
But  what   of  the  bitter  myrrh? 

After  awhile  the  young  teacher  died,  and  was  laid  in 
the  Churchyard.  The  children  of  his  Sunday  Class, 
of  which  the  little  boy  was  one,  agreed  among  them- 
selves, there  were  seven,  that  they  should  deck  the 
grave  with  flowers  each  day  in  turn.  And  so  for  a 
year,  the  grave  of  the  gentle  teacher  was  tended  by 
loving  hands.  One  morning  in  summer,  very  early, 
when  the  grave-digger  went  to  his  work,  he  was 
surprised  to  find  a  litde  child  lying  asleep  upon  the 
grassy  mound  where  the  teacher  lay  buried.  The 
old  sexton  asked  him  how  he  came  there,  and  the 
little  boy  answered  that  on  the  night  before,  it  was  his 
turn  to  deck  the  grave  with  flowers,  and  that  he  could 
not  find  any  beautiful  enough,  and  so,  said  the  child, 
"  I  would  not  disappoint  teacher,  and  I  thought  that, 
as  he  used  to  call  me  his  '  little  flower,'  I  would  just 
put  myself  on  his  grave,  to  show  how  I  loved  him  " 


20  parable  ^evmaii^  for  Cf)illiren. 


Within  awhile  another  grave  was  made  beside 
that  of  the  teacher,  and  on  the  tiny  head  stone  they 
carved  these  words — "Little  Flower;  he  gave 
himself  to  show  his  love." 


SERMON    IV. 


THE    TRAVELLERS. 


Hebrews  xiii.  14. 
''  Here  we  have  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come.'' 

I  AM  going  to  tell  you  a  story  which  was  first  told 
by  the  Old  Greeks,  about  a  certain  King  and  his 
companions,  and  I  want  to  see  if  you  can  find  some 
lessons  and  warnings  in  it.  This  King  travelled 
over  many  lands  and  seas,  and  met  ^vith  many 
dangers  and  wonderful  adventures.  They  had  left 
their  homes  to  fight  in  a  long  and  terrible  war,  in  a 
foreign  land.  When  the  war  was  over,  they  longed 
to  go  home  again,  but  many  difficulties  and  dangers 
stood  between  them  and  their  native  shores.     I  will 


22  gamble  ^crmaiig  for  €])ilxirtn, 

tell  you  about  some  of  them.  First,  when  they  had 
begun  their  homeward  journey,  they  met  with  some 
fierce  and  strong  enemies  with  whom  they  fought. 
Having  conquered  them  and  driven  them  back,  the 
companions  of  the  King  sat  down  to  feast  on  the 
spoils  which  they  had  taken.  The  King,  their  leader, 
who  was  very  wise,  begged  them  to  get  to  their  ship 
and  sail  homeward  at  once,  whilst  they  were  safe, 
but  they  would  not  listen  to  his  advice.  Presently, 
whilst  they  were  all  feasting,  forgetting  their  danger, 
their  enemies,  who  had  recovered  their  strength, 
rushed  upon  them  and  drove  them  back,  wounding 
some  of  them  very  severely.  Now  the  travellers 
were  glad  enough  to  escape  to  their  ships,  and  to 
carry  away  their  wounded  friends  to  sea.  Well, 
they  steered  their  ships  towards  home,  but  they  met 
with  tempests  and  contrary  winds,  and  were  driven 
about  hither  and  thither,  till  at  last  one  day  they 
came  in  sight  of  land.  They  went  on  shore,  and 
found  the  country  very  beautiful.  The  sun  was 
always  shining,  the  air  was  hot  and  sleepy,  it  was 
"  a  land  in  which  it  seemed  always  afternoon,"  no 
one  appeared  to  do  any  work,  the  people  lived  only 
to  eat  and  drink  and  sleep.  Presently  the  King  and 
his  companions  found  out  the  reason  of  this.  The 
people  of  this  strange  land  lived  on  the  loius-fndt, 


€l}t  Crabellcri.  23 


which  made  them  lazy  and  careless,  and  forgetful  of 
everything  but  their  own  comfort.  The  wise  leader  of 
the  travellers  saw  the  danger  before  him.  The  fruit 
was  very  tempting,  the  life  appeared  very  pleasant, 
if  his  companions  should  eat  of  the  lotus  they  would 
forget  home,  and  friends,  and  duty ;  already  some  of 
them  were  looking  longingly  on  the  fatal  fruit. 

"  Most  weary  seemed  the  sea,  weary  the  oar, 
Weary  the  wandering  fields  of  barren  foam  ; 
Then  some  one  said — '  we  will  return  no  more  :" 
And  all  at  once  they  sang — '  Our  island — home 
Is  far  beyond  the  wave,  we  will  no  longer  roam.'  " 

Some  of  the  travellers  tasted  the  lotus-fruit,  and 
at  once  became  as  sleepy  and  idle  as  the  people  of 
the  country.  Then  their  leader  determined  to  act. 
He  had  them  seized,  and  tied  with  thongs,  and 
carried  by  force  on  board  their  vessels,  then  every 
sail  was  set,  and  they  passed  away  from  the 
dangerous  shores  of  the  lotus-eaters.  The  travellers 
had  other  troubles  in  store  for  them.  They  came 
one  day  to  a  wild  and  rocky  shore,  very  different 
from  the  sweet,  flowery  land  of  the  lotus.  The 
people  of  this  country  were  fierce  giants  called 
Cyclops,  who  were  also  cannibals.  The  King  and 
his  friends  soon  found  themselves  prisoners  in  the 
cave  of  one  of  them,  who  killed  and  devoured  a 


ISarablc  5«crmon)S  far  C!)tltrrni. 


prisoner  every  day.  Well,  at  last,  when  many  of 
their  friends  had  perished,  the  travellers  managed  to 
blind  the  giant,  and  escape  from  the  cave  to  the  sea. 
Joyfully  the  remainder  of  the  little  band  got  on 
board  their  ships,  and  as  the  blind  giant  came 
furiously  to  the  shore,  the  King  mocked  at  him  from 
the  deck  of  his  vessel.  Now  in  this  the  King  was  not 
wise.  For  the  giant  having  cast  some  great  stones 
at  him  without  being  able  to  hurt  him,  uttered  some 
terrible  curses.  These  curses  did  a  great  deal  of 
mischief,  and  were  the  cause  of  a  great  many 
misfortunes  to  the  travellers,  as  you  shall  hear 
another  day. 

Now,  my  children,  I  want  to  see  what  lessons  this 
story  has  for  us.  I  think  the  old  Greeks  meant 
much  of  the  story  to  be  a  parable,  at  all  events,  it 
shall  be  one  to  us.  We  will  think  of  the  king  and 
his  fellow-travellers  as  being  ourselves,  all  mankind. 
We  are  sent  from  our  home.  Heaven,  to  a  long  war- 
fare in  a  foreign  land,  that  is,  this  world.  And  we 
must  conquer  all  our  enemies,  and  pass  through 
many  trials  and  dangers,  and  cross  a  stormy  sea  of 
temptation  before  we  can  reach  home.  All  went 
well  with  the  travellers  as  long  as  they  remembered 
their  home  and  their  friends.  So  it  is  with  us, 
my  children.     We  are  citizens  of  Heaven,   "  here 


(!rt)C  CrabrUcriJ.  25 

we  have  no  continuing  city,"  we  are  all  "  strangers 
and  pilgrims,"  and  all  goes  well  with  us  whilst  we 
think  of  our  home  in  Heaven,  and  of  our  friends 
there,  God,  and  the  saints  and  angels.  The  first 
mistake  which  the  travellers  made  is  just  the  mistake 
which  we  often  make.  When  they  had  conquered 
some  enemies,  they  sat  down  to  feast,  instead  of 
going  homewards.  Our  enemies  are  our  sins.  If 
we  struggle  hard,  and  conquer  some  sin,  we  must  not 
sit  down  at  ease,  and  say,  "  I  am  safe."  The  sin 
will  attack  us  again  stronger  than  ever,  and  when  we 
think  we  are  standing  safely,  we  shall  fall.  We 
must  keep  out  of  the  way  of  temptation.  Having 
fought  with  our  sin  and  got  the  better  of  it,  we  must 
try  to  get  away  from  it  as  far  as  possible.  When 
the  travellers  put  to  sea  on  their  homeward  journey, 
they  met  with  storms  and  tenipests.  You  and  I, 
my  children,  have  to  pass  the  waves  of  this  trouble- 
some world  before  we  can  find  our  home ;  and  the 
troubles,  and  sorrows,  and  misfortunes  of  life  are 
the  storms  which  will  meet  us. 

After  a  while  the  travellers  came  to  the  shores 
of  the  lotus-eaters.  I  wonder  if  any  of  us  have 
been  there  too  ?  I  think  that  country  means  the 
land  of  iileness  and  sloth^  and  the  fruit  of  it  \sforgd- 
fuhtess.     Those  who  eat  of  it  forget  their  duty,  and 


26  ^.irabljr  s-crmauiS  for  Cljillfrrn. 


their  home,  and  their  God.  Ah  !  children,  have 
none  of  you  tasted  that  dangerous  fruit  ?  When  I 
see  a  child  idle  in  school,  careless  and  inattentive  in 
church,  lazy  in  his  work,  always  thinking  of  eating 
and  drinking,  and  playing,  neglecting  his  prayers 
and  his  Bible,  then  I  know  that  child  has  eaten  the 
fatal  fruit,  he  is  forgetting  his  home  and  his  friends. 
What  must  you  do  if  you  have  tasted  the  fruit  ?  You 
must  get  away  from  the  dangerous  land  of  idleness 
as  fast  as  you  can.  Put  out  to  sea — the  sea  of  work 
and  duty — and  never  mind  the  stormy  weather. 

Then  again,  the  travellers  fell  amongst  giants. 
Our  bad  habits  are  our  giants,  and  they  keep  us 
prisoner,  and  eat  us  up  by  degrees.  The  boy  who 
tises  bad  latiguage  is  living  as  a  prisoner  in  a  dirty 
cave  with  a  foul  giant.  The  idle  child  is  sleeping 
away  his  life  in  a  cave  with  his  giant.  The  deceitful 
child  is  in  a  dark  place  with  his  giant.  The  dishonest 
child  hides  away  his  ill-gotten  goods  in  the  cave  of 
his  giant.  And,  sooner  or  later,  the  giant,  the  bad 
habit,  destroys  us.  Boys  and  girls,  some  of  you  are 
kept  prisoner  by  a  giant.  Make  up  your  mind,  get 
out  of  his  cave,  there  is  Some  One  who  is  stronger 
than  the  giant.  Jesus  will  help  you  to  escape.  But 
what  is  the  door  out  of  the  giant's  cave  ?  Repentance. 
What  is  the  key  to  open  with  ?    Prayer.     Use  that 


Cl)e  CrafacUfr^.  27 


golden  key  now,  and  it  will  open  for  you  a  door  of 
escape.  And  when  you  have  got  away  from  the 
giant,Mon't  mock  at  it.  "  Fools  make  a  mock  at 
sin."  If  you  look  back  and  laugh  at  a  bad  habit, 
or  an  old  sin,  you  will  fmd  it  will  follow  after  you, 
and  overtake  you  again.  And  now  may  God  bless 
you,  and  help  you  to  understand  these  words. 


SERMON    V. 


THE     TRAVELLERS.     (IL) 


Hebrews  xiii.  14. 
"Here  we  have  no  continuing  city,  but^we  seek  one  to  come." 

I  TOLD  you  lately,  my  children,  about  the  king  and 
his  fellow-travellers,  and  some  of  their  adventures 
in  the  land  of  the  lotus-eaters,  and  among  those 
terrible  giants  the  Cyclops.  And  you  will  remember 
what  lessons  we  learnt :  that  7ve  are  all  travellers  on 
our  way  home,  seeking  that  Heavenly  City  which 
is  above;  and  that  we  must  avoid  the  dangerous 
shore  of  sloth  and  forgetfulness,  and  the  strong 
giants,  which  are  Evil  Habits. 

Now    let   me   tell   you   some   more  about   the 


ne  Crabfltrr^.  29 


travellers.  When  they  had  escaped  from  the  giants, 
they  sailed  away  over  the  lonely,  homeless  sea, 
seeking  their  native  land.  At  length  they  came  to 
the  Country  of  the  Winds,  where  the  kmg  of  the 
winds  made  them  welcome. 

Now  we  know,  as  Christians,  that  God  is  the  God 
of  all  nature,  God  of  the  sea,  and  of  the  land  :  of 
the  wind,  and  of  the  tempest.  We  know  that  "  fire 
and  hail,  snow  and  vapours,  wind  and  storm  are 
fulfilling  His  word."  We  know  that  "He  hath 
made  summer  and  winter,  and  that  by  Him  were  all 
things  made,  and  without  Him  was  not  anything 
made  that  was  made."  But  the  old  Greeks,  who 
were  heathens,  did  not  know  this.  They  thought 
that  there  was  one  god  of  the  winds,  and  another  of 
the  seas,  and  another  of  fire,  and  so  on.  When  a 
storm  arose  they  said  that  the  god  of  the  winds  had 
sent  forth  his  servants.  When  the  sea  raged,  they 
thought  the  god  of  the  sea  was  angry.  You  must 
remember  this  in  order  to  understand  me.  I 
suppose  that  the  king  of  the  winds  was  really  only  a 
clever  man  who  invented  sails  for  ships,  and  so  the 
Greeks  made  a  god  of  him.  Well,  this  king  of  the 
winds  was  very  friendly  to  the  travellers,  and  when 
they  left  him  to  continue  their  journey  he  gave  them 
a  leather  bag,  tied  with  a  silver  cord,  and  containing 


30  Parable  ^tvman^  fav  €l)iUsren. 

all  the  stormy  and  adverse  winds  as  prisoners.  Only 
the  sweet  west  wind  was  left  out,  that  it  might  carry 
the  travellers  home.  And  so  they  took  ship  once 
again,  and  for  nine  days  all  went  well  with  them. 
Gaily  their  ships  sailed  over  the  sea  before  the  sweet 
west  wind,  and  the  king  steered,  trusting  no  other 
hand  on  the  helm.  At  last  they  came  within  sight 
of  home,  they  saw  the  rocky  shore,  and  the  green 
meadows,  and  waving  trees,  and  the  smoke  going  up 
from  their  own  houses.  Then  it  was,  when  they 
were  almost  safe  in  harbour,  that  the  king,  tired  out 
with  steering,  fell  asleep.  And  his  companions  were 
tempted  by  curiosity  to  examine  the  bag  w^hich  held 
the  winds.  They  thought  the  silver  cord  must 
certainly  tie  up  a  treasure,  and  so  in  an  evil  moment 
they  opened  the  bag.  Out  rushed  the  angry  winds, 
and  blew  their  ship  far  away  from  home,  out  of  sight 
of  their  native  land.  When  the  king  awoke,  instead 
of  seeing  his  house  and  friends  close  to  him,  he 
found  that  they  were  once  more  out  on  the  desolate 
sea,  and  the  winds  raging  around  them. 

Now  let  us  look  at  the  Heavenly  meaning  of  this. 
Perhaps  we  are  going  on  very  well  for  a  time,  trying 
to  lead  good  lives,  and  so  getting  nearer  to  God  and 
our  Home,  when  some  curiosity  tempts  us  to  do 
something  which  God  has  forbidden.     Then  if  we 


etc  ([rrabclIcnJ.  31 


yield  to  the  temptation  we  are  driven,  by  a  stotm  of 
our  07un  viaking^  far  from  Home  and  God,  into  the 
dark  stormy  sea  of  sin  and  shame. 

You  know  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  close  to  God 
in  their  home  in  Paradise ;  they  had  all  that  they 
needed  ;  they  might  eat  of  all  fruits  in  the  garden, 
except  of  one  tree.  That  was  forbidden.  Curiosity 
tempted  them  to  eat  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  in 
consequence  they  were  banished  from  home,  and 
not  only  they,  but  all  mankind,  were  shut  out  of 
Paradise.  Then  "  remember  Lot's  wife."  She  had 
come  safely  out  of  Sodom,  and  curiosity  tempted 
her  to  do  what  was  forbidden,  to  look  back  upon 
the  city  of  sin  and  pleasure.  She  looked  back,  and 
she  perished.  Then  think  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  He 
was  safe  at  home,  happy,  prosperous,  loved  by  his 
father.  Curiosity  tempted  him  t')  see  more  of  the 
world.  He  wanted  to  open  the  bag  of  the  world's 
pleasures  and  sins,  as  the  travellers  longed  to  open 
the  bag  of  the  winds.  There  are  many  big  boys 
and  girls  like  him.  They  think  it  manly  to  go  away 
from  home  before  they  can  govern  themselves.  The 
boy  says,  "  I  want  to  be  my  own  master."  He 
thinks  it  a  fine  thing  to  get  into  the  bad  company 
of  those  who  drink,  and  swear,  and  tell  bad  stories. 
He  wants  to  find  out  all  sorts  of  things  which  are 


32  t3ar«ible  ^crman^  iav  Cbtltircu. 


not  good  for  him  to  know.  Like  the  fooHsh  travellers 
he  unties  the  bag,  and  out  rush  all  the  bad  passions, 
and  temptations,  and  evil  communications,  and  carry 
him  away.  He  finds  out  what  drunkenness  means, 
and  what  impurity  means,  and  very  likely  he  dis- 
covers what  dishonesty  and  disgrace  mean.  And 
where  is  he  driven  to  ?  To  the  husks,  and  the 
swine,  and  the  foul  rags  of  sin,  and  the  filthy  food 
of  a  wicked  world.  And  if  the  prodigal  does  not 
come  home  again  penitent  to  his  Father,  he  is  lost 
utterly. 

Oh  !  boys  and  girls,  don't  be  curious  to  find  out 
evil  in  the  world,  (jod  will  teach  you  everything 
which  you  need  to  know.  Never  be  curious  to  look 
into  bad  books,  or  to  talk  about  bad  things,  or  to  go 
to  bad  places.  Remember  what  curiosity  did  for 
the  travellers,  and  try  to  keep  innocency,  "  for  that 
shall  bring  you  peace  at  the  last." 


SERxAION    VI. 


THE     TRAVELLERS.     (III.) 


Hebrews  xiii.  i/j. 
"  Here  we  have  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come." 

Do  you  remember,  my  children,  how  the  travellers 
\vere  punished  for  their  idle  curiosity  and  disobedi- 
ence ?  When  they  opened  the  bag  which  held  the 
strong  winds  they  were  driven  by  them  away  from 
home.  And  very  soon  they  fell  among  giants  and 
cannibals,  quite  as  fierce  as  their  former  enemies,  the 
Cyclops.  These  giants  destroyed  all  the  travellers 
and  their  ships,  except  the  vessel  and  crew  of  the 
king  himself.  So  the  lonely  ship  sailed  away  from 
that  terrible  shore,  and  the  king  and  his  companions 
c 


34  i3araile  ^tvman^  for  Cbinrrcn. 


were  very  cast  down  and  sad,  and  began  to  think 
that  they  should  never  see  home  again.  By  and  by 
they  came  near  land,  but  they  were  afraid  to  venture 
on  shore  lest  they  should  find  new  enemies.  It 
was  necessary,  however,  to  get  fresh  water,  so  the 
king  agreed  to  stay  on  board  his  ship,  whilst  his 
officer  landed  with  the  crew.  They  found  them- 
selves in  a  very  beautiful  country,  and  soon  came  in 
sight  of  a  palace.  There  were  pleasant  gardens  all 
round  it,  bright  with  flowers,  and  shaded  by  fruit 
trees.  Instead  of  seeing  dogs  or  horses  near  the 
palace,  the  travellers  found  lions,  -and  tigers,  and 
bears,  and  other  savage  beasts,  but  they  were  as 
tarne  and  gentle  as  our  cats  at  home.  This 
wonderful  place  belonged  to  a  famous  witch,  or 
sorceress,  and  she  soon  came  and  invited  the 
travellers  to  feast  with  her.  The  officer  refused  to 
enter  the  palace,  but  the  hungry  sailors  eagerly 
accepted  the  invitation.  They  ate  greedily  of  the 
food  set  before  them,  but  their  gluttony  was  quickly 
punished,  for  the  dishes  were  drugged  with  magic 
herbs,  and  no  sooner  had  the  sailors  feasted  on 
them,  than  they  were  turned  into  a  herd  of  swine. 
When  the  officer  saw  the  fate  of  his  men,  he 
hastened  to  tell  the  king  of  this  new  misfortune. 
When  he  had  heard  the  news,  the  kinsr  went  on 


€'i)t  CrabrUrr^.  35 


shore  to  search  for  his  companions,  and  as  he  came 
near  to  the  palace  of  the  witch  a  stranger  met  him, 
beautiful  as  an  angel,  and  told  him  of  the  dangers 
of  that  enchanted  spot.  Then  he  gave  the  king  a 
plant  with  a  white  flower,  which  would  protect  him 
against  all  the  arts  of  the  sorceress.  After  awhile, 
when  the  king  had  entered  the  palace,  and  tasted 
the  magic  feast,  the  witch  tried  to  transform  him 
into  a  beast,  but  the  white  flower  made  him  safe, 
and  the  witch  was  conquered.  She  even  consented, 
at  the  king's  request,  to  restore  his  companions  to 
their  proper  shape. 

And  now,  children,  the  king  and  his  companions 
acted  very  foolishly.  Instead  of  hurrying  away  from 
that  dangerous  place,  they  stayed  for  a  long  time  in 
the  palace  of  the  sorceress,  but  the  white  flower, 
which  the  king  carried,  kept  him  safe.  At  last 
the  travellers  remembered  their  home,  and  their 
duty,  and  set  sail  once  more,  but  there  were  many 
dangers  yet  before  them.  They  sailed  near  some 
shores  where  they  saw  some  beautiful  women  sitting 
upon  the  sands,  singing,  and  beckoning  to  them. 
The  song  was  so  wonderful  that  all  who  heard  it  were 
drawn  to  the  place  at  once.  But  those  who  sang 
were  cruel  creatures,  called  Sirens,  who  tempted 
travellers   to    destruction,    and   the   shore   was   all 


36  ^^arable  xeimnnir  fnr  Cbtlflrcn. 

whitened  with  the  bones  of  those  who  had  listened 
to  the  song,  and  perished.  The  king  had  been 
warned  of  this  danger,  and  he  caused  his  com- 
panions to  stop  their  ears  with  wax.  so  that  they 
could  not  hear  the  fatal  song.  He  ordered  his 
crew  to  bind  him  to  the  mast,  and  on  no  account  to 
let  him  loose.  However,  he  had  not  stopped  his 
ears,  and  when  he  heard  the  Siren's  song,  he  wanted 
to  go  on  shore,  and  begged  the  sailors  to  loose 
him,  but  fortunately  they  could  not  hear  him,  and 
so  that  danger  was  passed.  By  and  by  the  travellers 
entered  a  narrow  strait  of  sea  where  there  was  a 
monster  on  each  side,  one  hidden  under  a  great 
rock,  the  other  in  a  deep  whirlpool.  And  here  the 
danger  was,  lest  in  avoiding  one  monster,  they  should 
be  caught  by  the  other.  But  after  awhile  they 
passed  on,  and  came  to  a  shore  where  some  cattle 
were  feeding.  Now  these  cattle  were  sacred  to  the 
Sun-God,  and  the  king  had  been  specially  warned 
not  to  injure  them.  The  travellers  were  forced  by 
the  stormy  weather  to  remain  for  some  time  on  land, 
and  one  day,  while  the  king  slept,  his  companions 
killed  and  ate  some  of  the  oxen.  Then  very 
terrible  things  happened.  The  skins  of  the  slain 
animals  moved  as  if  alive,  and  crawled  after  their 
slayers ;   the   meat,    whilst   roasting    on   the   spits. 


Clje  Crabfllcrsf.  37 


seemed  to  groan  and  cry,  and  when  the  travellers 
put  once  more  to  sea  fearful  storms  arose.  The 
ship  was  struck  by  a  thunderbolt,  and  all  the  crew 
was  lost  except  the  king.  He  was  shipwrecked,  and 
after  passing  through  many  more  perils,  which  J 
cannot  tell  you  about  now,  he  came  safe  home 
at  last. 

And  now,  my  children,  let  us  see  what  all  this 
teaches  us.  After  their  idle  curiosity  and  disobedi- 
ence the  travellers  fell  among  destroying  giants. 
That  means  just  this,  that  sin  brhigs  its  ow7i  punisJi- 
vifnt.  ''  Our  pleasant  vices  are  made  the  whips  to 
scourge  us  " ;  when  we  sin  and  suffer  for  it,  we  whip 
ourselves.  These  giants  in  the  parable  are  the 
effects  of  sin.  The  drunkard  is  destroyed  by  the 
giant  of  bad  health.  The  glutton  is  pursued  by  the 
giant  of  sickness  and  headache. 

And  next  we  learn  the  lesson  of  the  Enchanted 
Island.  That  beautiful,  wicked  witch  is  Sinful 
Pleasure^  or  Lust;  one  of  those  things  which  in 
your  Baptism  you  promise  to  renounce,  to  declare 
war  against.  When  the  travellers  had  tasted  of  the 
witch's  food  they  were  turned  into  beasts.  Do  you 
think  that  so  very  wonderful?  I  have  often  seen 
the  same  thing.  I  have  seen  a  boy — once  a  bright- 
faced,  honest,  simple  lad — getting  into  bad  company. 


38  Parable  *crmDuiS  far  CttlUrrn. 

going  with  companions  to  the  tavern,  learning  to 
become  a  drunkard.  At  first  it  all  seemed  to  him 
as  delightful  as  the  witch's  magic  cup,  but  look  at 
the  boy  presently.  Instead  of  the  bright-eyed, 
honest-faced  lad,  I  see  a  heavy,  down-looking 
fellow,  with  flushed,  swollen  face,  and  dim,  watery 
eyes,  which  are  ashamed  to  look  at  you  straight- 
forwardly. Then  I  know  that  the  boy  has  been 
turned  into  a  beast.  Or,  I  see  a  young  giil  who 
was  once  modest  and  pure,  regular  at  Church  and 
Sunday  School.  Now  a  change  has  come  over 
her.  She  is  scarcely  ever  at  Church  or  School  now. 
She  has  no  smiling  welcome  for  the  Clergyman; 
she  tries  to  avoid  him.  Instead  of  her  Hymn  Book 
she  carries  a  penny  book  of  foolish  and  immodest 
songs.  Instead  of  her  Bible  and  Prayer  Book  she 
has  a  false,  and  often  wicked  story  in  her  hands. 
Instead  of  spending  her  evenings  at  home,  she  is 
running  about  at  night,  wearing  more  ribbons  than 
she  can  pay  for.  And  what  is  the  cause  of  all  this  ? 
She  has  tasted  the  poisoned  cup  of  sinful  pleasure, 
and  her  nature  is  changed.  Look  at  the  boy  who 
was  once  in  the  choir,  singing  God's  praises  ;  now 
he  sings  filthy  and  foolish  songs  ;  he  was  a  guod 
boy  once,  he  is  changed  into  a  beast  now.  O 
boys  and  girls,  be  warned,  don't  taste  of  any  pleasure 


C:i)e  CrafacUcriS.  39 


which  is  sinful,  it  is  simply  poison.  Do  you  know- 
how  the  king  escaped  from  the  power  of  the  witch 
and  her  sorcery  ?  Because  he  had  the  white  flower, 
which  is  Temperance.  You  remember  what  we 
are  told  in  the  Catechism,  that  we  must  keep  our 
bodies  in  temperance,  soberness  and  chastity. 

Next,  remember  the  shore  of  the  Sirens,  who 
lured  people  to  destruction  with  their  song.  We 
often  sail  past  those  shores.  The  Sirens  are  our 
Temptatiotis.  Each  temptation  has  its  own  special 
song.  The  world  has  one  song,  and  the  flesh 
another,  and  the  devil  another,  and  they  are  sung 
to  many  different  tunes.  Idleness  sings  a  song  to 
you,  my  children,  about  the  pleasure  of  taking 
things  easily,  and  never  doing  hard  work.  Dishonesty 
sings  its  song  in  a  soft,  low  key,  and  says,  "  It's 
only  a  trifle,  no  one  will  know,  take  it."  What 
must  we  do,  children  ?  We  must  stop  our  ears.  Do 
not  stay  to  listen,  or  the  temptation  may  be  too 
strong  for  you,  and  you  will  fall.  If  you  are 
tempted  to  look  at  a  bad  thing,  turn  away  your 
eyes ;  if  you  are  tempted  to  listen  to  a  bad  thing, 
stop  your  ears. 

Now  think  of  the  two  monsters  in  the  narrow  strait. 
I  told  you  that  in  avoiding  one,  travellers  were  often 
caught  by  the  other.     Well,  we  all  have  to  take  care 


40  paraBIc  ^crmau^  far  CljilHrcn. 

lest  whilst  we  keep  clear  of  one  sin,  we  fall  into 
another.  One  child  avoids  the  sin  of  Sabbath- 
breaking,  and  goes  to  Church  regularly,  then  he 
thinks — how  much  better  I  am  than  my  neighbour's 
boy  ;  what  a  good  boy  I  am.  He  has  avoided  the 
rock  of  Sabbath-breaking,  but  he  has  gone  right 
into  the  whirlpool  of  Pride.  You  remember  the 
Pharisee  in  the  parable  :  he  fasted,  and  gave  alms, 
and  kept  the  law,  and  yet  he  fell  into  the  whirlpool 
when  he  condemned  the  poor  Publican.  Try  to 
keep  in  the  middle  course^  children,  and  look  out  for 
the  dangers  on  each  side;  if  you  avoid  one  kind  of 
sin,  be  on  your  guard  against  another. 

And  now,  last  of  all,  when  the  travellers  disobeyed 
and  killed  the  cattle  of  the  Sun-God,  as  the  Greeks 
called  him.  you  remember  what  terrible  things 
happened.  We  learn  there  that  the  sins  of  the 
wicked  can't  be  killed,  they  dog  their  steps  and  cry 
out  after  them.  If  you  have  done  wrong,  and  have 
not  confessed  your  sin  and  repented,  some  horrible 
thing  seems  to  be  crawling  after  you,  some  terrible 
voice  seems  to  be  crying  out  after  you.  That  is 
the  memory  of  your  sin.  And  now  my  parable  is 
ended.  I  have  tried  to  teach  you  that  we  are  all 
travellers  on  a  journey  through  this  life,  and  that  we 
are  going  home  to  Paradise,  through  many  dangers, 


Z\)t  CrabrllcriS.  41 


and  difficulties,  and  temptations.  On  this  journey 
we  must  fight,  and  watch,  and  pray,  and  above  all 
we  must  have  Jesus  as  our  Guide.  He  will  give  us 
strength  to  triumph  over  the  temptations  of  the 
world,  and  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  and  will  enable  us 
with  pure  hearts  and  minds  to  follow  Him,  the 
only  God. 


SERMON   VII. 


THREE     WISHES. 


S.  Luke  xxii.  42. 
"  Not  My  will,  but  Thine,  be  done.'' 

Now,  my  children,  I  daresay  you  often  wish  for 
things  which  you  have  not  got.  I  think  we  are  all 
of  us  very  fond  of  wishing.  A  boy  says,  "  I  wish  I 
were  a  man,  and  my  own  master,  I  would  have  no 
more  lessons."  A  girl  says,  "  I  wish  I  had  plenty  of 
money,  I  would  ride  in  a  carriage  with  a  pair  of 
horses,  and  have  a  new  dress  every  day."  Another 
r  says,  "  I  wish  I  could  go  up  to  London,  and  see 
all  the  sights,  the  grand  ships,  and  the  fine  houses 
and  Churches."     I  have  even  heard  a  very  little 


Cfjrcc  USiilit^,  43 


child  say,  "  I  wish  I  could  fly."  Now  it  is  very 
natural  to  wish,  but  it  is  often  very  foolish,  because 
we  wish  for  what  is  not  good  for  us.  Suppose  that 
an  angel  were  come  into  this  Church  now,  and  were 
to  ask  each  person  present  what  he  wished  for.  I 
wonder  what  sort  of  answers  would  be  given.  I 
think  one  person  would  wish  for  plenty  of  money, 
and  another  for  good  health,  and  another  would  say, 
"I  wish  to  have  my  own  way  always,"  and  another 
would  wish  for  abundance  of  nice  food.  But  do 
you  think  these  are  very  good  wishes  ?  Would  the 
angel  be  very  pleased  with  them  ?  No,  the  answer 
which  the  angel  would  like  to  hear  would  be,  "  I 
wish  to  be  a  good  servant  of  Jesus  Christ."  No 
doubt  you  children  have  all  wished  sometimes  to 
have  plenty  of  money.  If  you  have  gone  to  the 
bank,  and  seen  the  clerks  shovelling  the  sovereigns 
about  as  carelessly  as  if  they  were  worth  nothing, 
no  doubt  you  have  wished  that  you  might  have  a 
few  shovels  full.  And  when  you  have  read  in  the 
fairy  tales  about  people  having  sacks  full  of  gold, 
some  of  you  have  wished  that  you  might  have  such 
sacks  of  treasure.  Well,  I  am  going  to  tell  you  a 
story  of  a  man  who  wished  to  have  a  great  deal  of 
money,  and  you  will  see  that  such  a  wish  is  not 
always  wise  or  good. 


44  |9arablc  ;3'crman^  far  (JDtjillfreii. 

The  story  is  told  by  the  old  Greeks,  of  whom  I 
have  already  spoken.  They  tell  us  how  there  was  a 
certain  king,  who  had  a  palace  to  live  in,  and 
gardens  and  fields  to  cultivate,  but  who  was  discon- 
tented because  some  of  his  neighbours  were  richer 
than  he.  The  king  was  always  wishing  for  wealth. 
He  thought  that  if  he  could  have  boundless  riches 
he  should  be  perfectly  happy.  But  he  made  a  great 
mistake,  as  you  will  see.  Well,  he  went  on  wishing 
for  more  money,  till  one  night  a  vision  or  dream 
came  to  him.  He  saw  a  stranger,  who  seemed  not 
to  belong  to  earth,  and  who  told  the  king  that  he 
should  have  his  wish,  whatever  it  might  be.  Now 
I  daresay,  children,  you  wish  that  this  could  happen 
to  you.  You  think  how  pleasant  it  would  be  to 
have  anything  you  might  wish  for.  Well,  I  don't, 
know,  it  depends  whether  our  wish  is  a  wise  one. 
You  will  hear  what  the  king's  wish  was,  and  what 
came  of  it. 

He  thought  to  himself  that  the  opportunity  had 
come  to  him  to  get  wealth,  and  to  become  the 
richest  man  in  the  world.  Then  he  would  never 
trouble  himself  again  about  his  kingdom,  or  the 
affairs  of  state,  for  he  should  be  perfectly  rich,  and 
therefore  perfectly  happy.  So  the  king  told  the 
stranger  of  his  dream  what  his  wish  was :  it  was 


Cfjrcc  USiislitS.  45 


that  everything  which  he  touched  might  be  turned 
into  gold.  When  the  morning  came,  the  king  was 
very  anxious  to  see  if  the  vision  was  true  or  false. 
He  hurried  into  the  garden,  where  the  roses  were 
blooming,  and  filling  the  air  with  sweetness,  and 
plucked  one.  No  sooner  had  he  touched  it,  than  it 
became  a  mass  of  golden  leaves  without  scent. 
Then  the  king  was  delighted,  for  he  had  got  his 
wish.  He  broke  off  a  bough  from  a  tree,  and  it 
became  in  his  hand  a  solid  stick  of  gold.  He 
touched  the  ears  of  corn,  already  looking  golden  in 
the  sunshine,  and  they  became  heavy  metal.  He 
gathered  the  rosy  apples,  and  they  became  apples 
of  gold.  Then  the  king  thought  to  himself — "  Now 
I  am  perfectly  happy.  There  is  nothing  which 
money  cannot  do,  and  I  can  turn  everything  into 
money."  The  king  began  to  feel  hungry,  and  went 
into  the  room  where  his  morning  meal  was  prepared. 
But  when  he  took  a  piece  of  bread  in  his  hand,  it 
became  a  lump  of  gold.  He  lifted  a  cup  of  water 
to  his  lips,  and  the  water  became  solid  gold.  Then 
the  king  began  to  doubt  whether  his  wish  was  so 
very  good  after  all.  He  looked  through  the  window, 
and  saw  his  servants  enjoying  their  food,  whilst  their 
master  was  like  to  be  starved.  Presently  the  king's 
little  daughter  came  in,  carrying  a  bunch  of  roses 


46  Parable  5rrm0ni^  for  Cl)inrrfn. 

for  her  father.  As  soon  as  he  took  them  in  his 
hands  they  became  hard,  scentless  flowers  of  gold, 
and  the  child  began  to  cry  at  the  change  in  her 
favourite  roses.  The  father  took  his  child  in  his 
arms  to  comfort  her,  and  she  suddenly  began  to 
grow  cold  and  hard,  and  instead  of  a  living  daughter, 
he  clasped  a  golden  image.  And  now  the  king  saw 
how  fatal  his  wish  was. 

When  night  came,  weary  and  famished,  the  king 
lay  down  on  his  soft  bed,  and  in  an  instant  it  became 
a  piece  of  hard,  slippery  gold.  All  night  the  poor 
king  lay  awake  on  his  hard  couch,  and  he  would 
gladly  have  changed  places  with  the  poorest  of  his 
labourers  who  was  sleeping  soundly.  So  the  king 
found  out  his  mistake,  and  saw  how  foolish  and 
wicked  he  had  been,  and  he  begged  hard  that  the 
terrible  power  of  turning  things  into  gold  might  be 
taken  away.  His  request  was  granted,  and  I  think 
we  can  fancy  how  glad  he  must  have  been  to  be  able 
to  touch  his  food,  and  find  that  it  was  not  gold,  and 
to  put  real  water  to  his  lips,  and  to  sleep  on  his  soft 
bed,  and  to  see  his  daughter  restored  to  him.  That 
king  had  learned  that  to  be  rich  need  not  mean  to  be 
happy.  He  had  learnt,  what  we  ought  to  learn, 
that  the  secret  of  happiness  is  in  doing  our  duty, 
.and  leading  a  good  life,  and  being  contented. 


Ctrre  W!^iil)ei, 


My  children,  learn  to  be  contented  with  such 
things  as  God  has  given  you.  Then  you  will  be  able 
to  turn  all  things  into  gold,  only  in  a  better  way  than 
the  king  did.  The  contented  child  will  find  his 
plain  food  as  sweet  as  a  grand  dinner  served  on  gold 
plate.  The  contented  child  will  think  his  simple 
clothes  as  good  as  though  made  of  cloth  of  gold. 
The  child  who  loves  Jesus  has  always  riches,  since 
^'  in  the  house  of  the  righteous  is  much  treasure." 

There  was  a  very  famous  Roman  once,  who  had 
gained  many  victories  for  the  state.  He  might  have 
lived  in  a  grand  house,  and  had  riches  and  honour, 
but  he  chose  to  dwell  in  a  simple  cottage  near  Rome, 
and  cultivate  a  little  garden.  One  day  messengers 
were  sent  from  Rome  to  take  him  a  present  of  gold. 
They  found  this  great  conqueror  cooking  his  simple 
supper  of  vegetables.  When  they  offered  him  the 
present  of  money,  he  refused  it,  saying,  that  a  man 
who  was  contented  with  so  simple  a  supper  had  no 
need  of  gold.  Learn,  then,  my  children,  to  be 
contented,  and  everything  which  you  touch  will  be 
better  than  thousands  of  gold  or  silver. 

And  now  let  us  think  of  some  one  else  who  wished, 
and  who  had  his  wish  granted.  He,  too,  was  a  king. 
One  night,  when  he  was  lying  on  his  bed,  God 
appeared  to  him  in  [a  dream,   and  asked  him  to 


48  Parable  ^crm0nig  for  CtiHrren. 

choose  whatever  he  might  wish  for.  You  remember 
who  that  was  ?  King  Solomon.  And  you  all  re- 
member that  he  chose  wisdom,  that  he  might  govern 
God's  people  rightly.  That  is  a  good  wish  for  us, 
that  we  may  be  wise  to  learn  X^od's  will,  and  to  do 
it,  to  see  God's  way,  and  to  walk  in  it.  And  now 
think  of  yet  One  Other.  We  look  on  Him  kneeling 
in  a  garden,  in  great  agony  and  sorrow.  Drops  fall 
from  His  brow  like  drops  of  blood.  You  know  of 
Whom  we  are  thinking, — the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Now  He  had  a  right  to  wish,  and  to  have  His  wish 
granted  if  ever  any  one  had.  Yet  hear  what  He  says, 
"  Not  as  I  will,  but  as  Thou  wilt."  Now  which  do 
you  think  is  the  best  example  for  us  to  follow  ?  That 
of  the  foolish  king  who  wished  that  everything  he 
touched  might  become  gold  ?  Or  that  of  King 
Solomon  who  wished  for  wisdom;  or  that  of  the  King 
of  kings,  Jesus  Christ,  who  wished  to  do  the  Will  of 
His  Father  ?  I  think  you  will  all  feel  that  the  best 
wish  for  us  is  this — "  I  wish  to  have  no  wishes  left, 
Thy  Will,  O  Lord,  be  done." 


SERMON    VIII. 


THE     STRONG     MAN,     (I.) 


Revelation  xxi.  7, 
"He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things." 

There  lived  once  among  the  Greeks  a  very  famous 
hero,  who  was  the  strongest  man  in  the  world.  It 
had  been  foretold  that  after  going  through  many 
dangers,  enduring  many  toils,  and  fighting  many 
battles,  he  should  be  taken  to  Heaven,  and  dwell 
among  the  gods.  The  name  of  this  hero  was 
Hercules.  He  was  quite  a  litde  child  when  the 
first  danger  overtook  him.  He  was  lying  on  his 
little  bed,  when  two  great  serpents  came  into  the 
room.     I  think  you  would  have  been  very  frightened 

D 


Parable  ^crmDUS  for  (fDIjiltfrcn. 


if  you  had  seen  these  two  terrible  monsters,  with 
their  gleaming  eyes,  and  long  forked  tongues, 
crawling  up  to  your  bed.  But  the  child  Hercules 
was  not  afraid.  He  seized  one  snake  in  each  hand, 
and,  so  strong  was  he  already,  that  he  crushed 
them  to  death. 

When  he  had  grown  into  a  young  man,  Hercules 
was  called  upon  to  make  a  very  important  choice. 
One  day  he  saw  two  women,  one  fair  and  modest, 
dressed  neatly  and  simply,  the  other  very  showy 
and  gay  in  her  appearance,  covered  with  ornaments 
and  jewels.  She  who  wore  the  showy  dress  spoke 
first,  and  told  Hercules  that  he  must  choose  between 
her  and  her  companion.  If,  said  she,  you  make  me 
your  choice,  you  will  have  a  life  of  ease  and  pleasure, 
you  will  have  no  work  to  do,  no  troubles  or  cares  to 
vex  you,  you  need  do  nothing  but  eat,  drink,  and 
sleep,  and  others  will  work  for  you.  You  will  have 
only  to  think  of  yourself,  and  need  never  trouble 
about  other  people.  Well,  Hercules  thought  this 
sounded  very  tempting  and  pleasant ;  he  should 
have  his  own  way,  there  would  be  no  one  to  interfere 
with  him,  there  w^ould  be  no  hard  work,  no  rough 
fighting,  no  wounds,  nothing  but  enjoyment.  So  he 
turned  to  the  woman,  and  asked  her  name.  She 
answered  that  by  her  friends  she  was  called  Pleasure^ 


others  called  her  Si/i.  Then  said  Hercules,  "  Tell 
me  this  one  thing  more.  Pleasure  cannot  last  for 
ever.  I  shall  grow  old  and  weak  one  day.  I  shall 
no  longer  be  able  to  taste  what  I  eat  or  what  I 
drink.  I  shall  be  too  deaf  to  hear  the  sound  of 
singing,  too  feeble  to  join  in  the  dance.  What  can 
you  give  me  then  ?  "  The  woman  confessed  that 
she  could  give  him  nothing  then.  Now  she  could 
provide  pleasure,  but  nothing  hereafter.  Then 
Hercules  turned  him  to  the  other,  who  vras  called 
Virtue,  or  Duty.  She  told  him  that  if  he  chose  her 
as  his  guide  and  companion,  he  must  expect  to  work 
hard,  for  there  would  be  difficulties  to  overcome, 
and  battles  to  be  fought,  and  victories  to  be  gained. 
He  would  have  to  think  of  others,  to  help  the  weak 
and  suffering,  to  endure  hardness,  and  to  pass 
through  many  fiery  trials.  "  And  vrhat  hereafter  ?  " 
asked  he.  And  Virtue  told  him  that  when  his  work 
was  over,  and  his  duty  done,  he  should  be  taken 
from  the  earth  to  rest,  from  labour  to  peace,  and 
that  rest  was  only  for  those  who  did  their  duty. 
Then  Hercules  thought  within  himself — Which 
shall  I  choose  ?  Pleasure  is  very  tempting ;  it  is 
very  sweet  to  have  one's  own  vray,  and  to  lead  a  life 
of  ease  and  comfort.  But  then  what  a  price  to  pay 
for  it !     To  have  nothing  hereafter ;  no  home  of  rest 


62  Parable  ^rrmonS  far  Cljinfrcn. 

when  I  am  old  and  worn  out.  If  I  choose  Virtue 
or  Duty  I  must  hve  a  hfe  of  hardness,  and  warfare, 
and  labour  ;  but  it  will  be  a  noble  life,  a  useful  life, 
and  when  the  work  is  over  there  comes  rest.  My 
choice  is  made.  So  he  took  Virtue  by  the  hand, 
and  asked  her  to  be  his  guide,  and  to  lead  him  to 
his  work  and  to  his  labour  unto  the  evening. 

Well,  Hercules  set  forth  to  do  his  duty,  and  to 
help  others.  He  did  many  wonderful  things,  about 
which  I  have  not  time  to  tell  you  now.  Sometimes 
he  delivered  a  country  from  wild  beasts,  at  other 
times  he  set  a  king  free  from  his  enemies.  After  a 
time  this  strong  hero  came  under  the  power  of  a 
very  mighty  and  very  cruel  king,  who  was  jealous  of 
him,  and  wished  him  to  lose  his  place  in  the 
Heavens.  For  a  time  Hercules  was  obliged  to  do 
whatever  tasks  this  king  set  him,  so  he  undertook 
twelve  labours,  some  of  which  seemed  quite  im- 
possible. The  king  gave  him  these  hard  things  to 
do,  hoping  that  he  might  fail,  and  perish  in  trying. 
But  the  Powers,  which  the  Greeks  called  gods, 
favoured  him,  and  gave  him  precious  gifts.  Minerva, 
the  goddess  of  Wisdom,  gave  him  a  coat  of  armour 
and  a  helmet.  Mercury  gave  him  a  sword,  another 
presented  him  with  a  shield,  and  in  addition  they 
armed  him  with  a  bow  and  arrow,  and  a  club  of 


brass.  Thus  armed  Hercules  began  his  labours,  of 
which  I  am  only  going  to  mention  a  few.  His  first 
task  was  to  kill  a  terrible  lion,  the  terror  of  all  the 
country  round.  When  his  roar  was  heard,  men 
trembled,  and  women  seized  their  children  and  fled 
shrieking.  When  the  lion  came  down  on  the  villages 
and  farms,  he  would  carry  off  cattle,  and  sometimes 
men,  women  and  children,  and  no  one  dared  to 
interfere  with  him.  You  can  fanc}-,  children,  what 
a  hard  task  it  was  that  Hercules  had  to  do.  The 
king  felt  sure  that  he  would  fail.  Well,  Hercules 
went  to  meet  the  lion,  and  shot  at  him  from  a 
distance  with  his  bow  and  arrow.  But  the  darts 
were  broken  against  the  lion's  thick  hide,  without 
doing  him  any  hurt.  Then  the  strong  man  drew 
near  and  attacked  him  with  his  club.  But  although 
he  drove  the  lion  back,  he  could  not  wound  him. 
At  last  Hercules  pursued  him  right  into  his  den, 
and  there  stood  the  savage  beast  growling  at  him  in 
the  darkness.  Then  Hercules  went  close  to  him  and 
seized  him  by  the  throat,  and  after  a  fierce  fight  he 
choked  him  to  death.  The  king  was  so  frightened 
at  seeing  Hercules  return,  wearing  the  lion's  skin, 
that  he  would  not  suffer  him  to  enter  the  city,  and 
for  a  time  set  him  no  task.  After  awhile  the  king 
gave  the  strong  man  another  very  difficult  labour  to 


54  Parable  ^crmoniS  for  Cf)tltfrcn. 

perform.  This  was  to  kill  a  frightful  monster  called 
the  Hydra,  which  had  a  hundred  heads.  Hercules 
did  battle  with  this  monster  as  boldly  as  he  had 
done  with  the  lion,  but  he  found  whenever  he  cut 
off  one  of  its  heads,  two  others  grew  in  the  place  of 
it.  At  first  he  thought  that  he  should  never 
conquer  the  Hydra,  but  he  discovered  after  a  time 
that  he  must  burn  the  wound  which  he  had  made, 
with  fire,  and  then  the  heads  would  not  grow.  So 
after  a  very  long  and  fierce  struggle,  the  Hydra  was 
destroyed.  Another  of  the  tasks  which  the  king 
set  Hercules  to  do  was  to  clean  the  stables  of 
Augeas,  in  which  three  thousand  cattle  had  been 
kept  for  years,  and  which  had  never  been  cleansed. 
Many  other  wonderful  things  were  done  by  the 
strong  man,  but  I  have  not  time  to  speak  of  them. 
Strong  and  brave  as  he  was,  Hercules  once  fell  into 
great  weakness  and  sin.  He  w^ent  to  live  in  the 
palace  of  a  certain  Queen,  and  here  he  forgot  all 
about  his  duty  and  his  courage,  and  became  so 
weak  and  womanish  that  they  dressed  him  in 
woman's  clothes  and  set  him  to  spin,  whilst  they 
mocked  him.  But  he  repented  of  his  folly  and 
weakness,  and  departed  to  other  labours,  till  the 
time  came  for  him  to  find  rest. 

And  now  let  us  look  at  the  lessons  which  this 


story  teaches  us.  First  of  all,  do  yau  remember 
anyone  mentioned  in  the  Bible  who  was  very  strong, 
and  did  many  mighty  works  ?  Yes,  Samson,  and 
you  will  see  that  the  history  of  Samson  and  the 
story  of  Hercules  are  very  much  alike.  Both  killed 
a  lion,  both  lost  their  strength  by  falling  into  the 
hands  of  a  wicked  woman.  No  doubt  the  Greeks 
got  their  story  of  Hercules  from  the  Jewish  history 
of  Samson. 

When  you  were  baptised,  you  were  signed  with 
the  sign  of  the  Cross.  Why  ?  To  show  that  here- 
after you  must  not  be  ashamed  to  confess  the  faith 
of  Christ  crucified.  And  more  than  that,  to  show 
that  you  must  fight  manfully  under  His  banner  of 
the  Cross,  and  continue  Christ's  soldiers  and 
servants  unto  your  life's  end.  So  you  see  that 
being  a  Christian  means  fighting.  Hercules  had  to 
go  through  all  sorts  of  dangers  before  he  found  rest ; 
and  we  must  struggle,  and  fight,  and  overcome, 
before  we  can  enter  the  rest  which  remains  for  the 
people  of  God.  There  is  a  text  about  that  in  the 
Book  of  Revelation — "  He  that  overcometh  shall 
inherit  all  things."  Now  Hercules,  you  know,  was 
very  strong.  Are  we  strong  ?  are  you  little  children 
very  strong  ?  No,  and  yet  we  are  strong  enough  to 
do  what  God   requires   of  us.      Jesus  says,  "My 


66  |3aral)Ic  ^ermonj^  far  CtilUrcn. 

strength  is  sufficient  for  thee."  We  have  "no 
power  of  ourselves  to  help  ourselves,"  but  God 
gives  us  that  power.  Can  you  tell  how,  or  when  ? 
In  Holy  Baptism  the  Holy  Spirit  comes  to  us  and 
makes  us  begin  to  grow  strong.  In  Confirmation 
the  same  Holy  Spirit  comes  to  a  young  boy  or  girl 
just  growing  up,  and  makes  them  strong.  In  the 
blessed  Sacrament  of  Holy  Communion  we  are 
made  strong.  When  we  ask  for  help  earnestly  in 
prayer  we  are  made  strong.  You  remember  that 
the  first  trouble  which  came  upon  Hercules  came 
when  he  was  quite  a  little  child.  Two  serpents 
came  to  attack  him  That  teaches  us  that  very 
little  children  can  be  tempted  as  well  as  grown 
people.  Who  is  the  serpent  who  attacks  us  ?  That 
old  serpent  the  devil.  He  tempts  children  to  be 
disobedient,  and  obstinate,  and  passionate,  and 
idle,  to  tell  lies,  and  take  things  which  do  not 
belong  to  them.  Hercules,  you  remember,  seized 
the  serpents  and  crushed  them  to  death.  Our 
lesson  is  that  we  must  fight  with  temptation.  God 
will  help  us  to  conquer  sin,  if  we  fight  against  it. 
You  must  try  to  be  good  children,  and  ask  God  to 
help  you.  You  cannot  be  good  without  God,  and 
God  will  not  make  you  good  unless  you  wish  to  be, 
and  try  to  be.     When  a  bad  thought  comes  into 


Elbe  strong  ^aii.  57 

your  mind,  or  an  angry  word  springs  to  your  lips, 
think — there  conies  the  serpent  to  hurt  me.  Then 
say  a  httle  prayer,  "Jesu,  help  Thy  child,  keep  me 
from  the  tempter's  power."  Then  try  hard  to  get 
away  from  the  bad  thought,  or  to  choke  down  the 
angry  word.  And  do  the  same  with  all  your  temp- 
tations. If  you  see  something  belonging  to  another, 
and  you  are  tempted  to  take  it,  then  stop,  and 
think — the  serpent  is  coming,  if  I  do  this  I  shall  be  a 
thief!  Then  pray,  "Lord,  keep  my  hands  from 
picking  and  stealing ;  give  me  strength  to  meet 
temptation." 

But  I  must  not  say  more  to-day.  We  have  learnt 
that  we  must  fight  with  sin,  and  work  out  our  ow^n 
salvation  before  we  can  enter  Paradise.  We  have 
seen  that  God  gives  us  all  needful  strength,  and  that, 
even  as  little  children,  we  have  a  battle  to  fight,  and 
that  even  little  children  who  pray  are  strong  enough 
to  crush  down  Satan  under  their  feet. 


SERMON    IX. 


THE     STRONG     MAN.  (II.) 


Revelation  xxi.  7. 
"  He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things." 

'You  will  remember,  children,  that  I  was  telling  you 
lately  about  Hercules,  and  that  I  tried  to  show  you 
some  lessons  springing  from  the  strong  man's  story. 
You  will  remember  too,  that  when  Hercules  was 
growing  up  into  a  young  man,  he  had  a  choice  to 
make.  He  had  to  decide  whether  he  would  make 
duty,  or  sinful  pleasure  his  guide. 

You  have  the  same  choice  to  make,  over  and  over 
again  you  are  called  upon  to  decide  whether  you 
will  choose  your  own  way,    or   the   way   of  duty. 


C^e  strong  M^n-  59 

When  a  soldier  is  encamped  on  the  battle-field,  he 
would  ///('t'  to  sleep  comfortably  in  his  tent,  but 
presently  the  bugle  sounds,  and  his  d/i/j>  calls  him 
to  spring  up,  and  grip  his  weapons,  and  fight.  The 
sailor  would  prefer  the  comforts  of  home,  and  the 
safety  of  the  land,  but  his  duty  takes  him  to  sea, 
and  he  must  not  mind  the  storm,  and  the  dark  nights, 
and  the  tossing  waves,  he  has  his  duty  to  do.  You 
have  all  heard  of  Lord  Nelson,  the  great  sailor. 
Well,  when  he  was  going  to  fight  a  famous  battle,  he 
sent  a  message  to  every  ship  in  the  fleet.  You  know 
that  ships  at  sea  talk  to  each  other  by  means  of 
flags,  which  mean  certain  words.  When  the  fleet 
saw  the  flags  flying  from  the  Admiral's  ship,  just 
before  the  battle,  every  one  looked  eagerly  to  see 
what  the  message  was,  and  it  was  this, — "  England 
expects  that  every  man  will  this  day  do  his  duty." 

God  expects  that  every  one  of  His  servants,  men, 
women,  and  children,  will  do  their  duty.  There 
are  two  kinds  of  duty  which  you  have  to  do  :  your 
duty  towards  God,  and  your  duty  towards  your 
neighbour,  you  can  tell  me  what  they  are  in  the 
words  in  the  Catechism. 

Now,  remember  that  the  devil  will  tempt  you  away 
from  your  duty.  He  will  tell  you  that  it  is  so  hard 
to  do  right,  that  the  path  of  duty  is  a  difficult  one 


60  Parable  ^ttman^  far  Cftiltrrcii. 

to  walk  in.  Don't  listen  to  the  tempter.  You  must 
make  your  choice.  You  must  say  to  yourselves — 
which  shall  I  do,  7c>/iaf  I  /ike,  or  w/ial  J  ought  ? 
Then  ask  God  to  help  you,  and  determine  "  by  God's 
grace  I  will  do  my  duty,  even  Jesus  Christ  pleased 
not  Himself." 

Next,  you  remember  that  the  strong  man  fell  into 
the  power  of  a  very  wicked  king,  who  was  jealous  of 
him.  Well,  Satan  the  prince  of  darkness,  is  jealous 
of  us.  He  was  an  angel  in  Heaven  once,  and  he  is 
jealous  of  us  because  Heaven  has  been  promised  to 
us  hereafter.  Just  as  the  king  in  the  story  set  Hercules 
to  fight  against  the  lion,  and  the  hydra,  and  many 
other  foes,  Satan  sends  us  all  kinds  of  enemies, 
temptations,  which  we  must  conquer,  or  they  will 
destroy  us.  The  strong  man  was  provided  with 
armour  and  weapons,  let  us  think  about  our  armour. 
"  Take  unto  you  the  whole  armour  of  God,  that  you 
may  be  able  to  stand  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil." 
And  that  armour  is  not  what  you  have  seen  in 
pictures,  and  which  soldiers  used  to  wear  in  the  old 
days.  You  know  that  a  steel  breast-plate  would  not 
keep  out  a  bad  thought,  nor  would  a  sword  of  steel 
strike  down  the  tempter.  Our  enemies  are  Spiritual, 
so  our  armour  must  be  Spiritual  also.  Can  you 
remember,  children,  the  names  of  the  whole  armour 


of  God  ?  What  must  we  have  for  a  girdle  ?  Truth. 
Yes,  and  to  guard  our  heart  we  must  wear  the  breast- 
plate of  righteousness ;  and  our  feet  must  be  shod 
with  the  Gospel,  that  means,  we  must  stand  firm  on 
the  Gospel  promises.  Then  our  head  will  need  a 
defence,  so  we  must  have  the  helmet  of  salvation, 
and  to  cover  and  guard  ourselves  we  should  take  the 
shield  of  Faith.  And  what  is  our  sword?  The 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  the  help  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 
When  you  pray  earnestly,  that  sword  is  put  into 
your  hand.  When  you  are  confirmed  that  sv:ord  is 
put  into  your  hand. 

In  former  times,  it  was  often  the  custom  for  an 
old  warrior,  who  had  gained  many  victories,  to  give 
his  sword  to  his  son,  and  bid  him  use  it  bravely  as  his 
father  had  done.  So  God,  our  Father,  gives  us  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  says  to  each  of  us,  '•  quit 
you  like  men,  and  fight."  Hercules  had  to  fight 
with  a  lion.  Our  enemy,  the  devil,  as  a  roaring  lion 
goeth  about,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour.  He  comes 
down  on  the  sheep-fold — the  Church,  and  he  tries  to 
seize  the  lambs — the  children  of  the  flock.  When 
you  find  a  child  using  bad  words,  laughing  at  religion, 
never  praying,  or  reading  his  Bible,  you  know  at 
once  what  it  means.  T/ie  /ion  has  got  hiin.  He  has 
carried  that  child  off  to  his  dark  den  of  sin.     When 


62  ^aarailc  ^crmau)S  lax  Cl)illfrcn. 

you  see  that  you  must  try  to  help  him,  pray  for  him, 
talk  to  him,  and  try  to  get  him  to  do  better,  that's 
the  way  to  dehver  him  from  the  lion's  den. 

My  children,  when  you  sin  wilfully  the  lion  has 
got  hold  of  you.  If  you  tell  a  lie,  you  are  in  the  lion's 
den.  If  you  are  disobedient  to  parents  or  teachers,  if 
you  are  in  a  passion,  you  are  in  the  lion's  den.  If  you 
were  to  go  to  a  menagerie,  or  wild  beast  show,  and 
if,  by  some  accident,  you  got  into  the  cage  with  the 
lion,  would  you  not  be  terribly  frightened  ?  Would 
it  not  be  very  dreadful  to  see  his  fierce  glaring  eyes, 
and  cruel  teeth,  and  to  hear  his  deep  roar  of  anger  ? 
Yes,  but  it  is  far  more  awful  to  fall  into  the  power  of 
the  devil.  The  lion  can  only  hurt  your  body  ;  Satan 
can  destroy  your  soul.  Hercules  fought  with  the 
lion,  so  must  we  fight  with  our  lion.  "  Resist  the 
devil  and  he  will  flee  from  thee."  You  remember  how 
the  strong  man  began  his  battle  with  the  lion.  He 
shot  arrows  at  him  from  a  distance,  and  they  had  no 
effect.  Sometime  we  keep  a  long  way  off  from  our 
sins,  and  7Uis/i.  We  say,  "Oh,  I  icis/i  I  were 
better.  I  7C'is/i  I  could  conquer  my  temper,  or  I 
wish  I  did  not  make  my  mother  so  unhappy." 
Wishing  won't  help  you,  my  children.  You  are  like 
Hercules,  shooting  your  arrows  from  a  distance.  You 
must  get  close  to  the  lion,  and  struggle  with  it.    You 


Cbc  ^traixQ  d^ilaii.  63 

must  get  hold  of  your  sin,  and  see  how  bad  and  ugly 
it  is,  and  then  you  must  fight  with  it,  grapple  with  it, 
crying  out  to  Jesus,  '*  I  am  weak,  but  Thou  art 
mighty,  hold  me  in  Thy  powerful  hand,  help 
rne  iiow^ 

Next,  the  strong  man  had  to  fight  with  a  monster, 
having  a  hundred  heads.  I  wonder  what  that 
teaches  us  ?  Surely,  that  Satan  sends  us  temptations 
in  a  hundred  different  forms.  Sin  is  a  monster  with 
hundred  heads,  very  ugly  heads  too,  and  each  has  a 
sting  in  it.  All  the  strong  man's  fighting  could  not 
destroy  the  monster,  till  he  was  helped  by  fire. 

That  teaches  us  this  lesson.  That  all  our  struggles 
with  sin  are  useless,  unless  the  Holy  Spirit  is  with  us 
to  help.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  often  spoken  of  in  the 
Bible  as  a  Fire,  and  it  is  that  fire  which  alone  can 
destroy  the  power  of  sin,  only  we  must  do  our  part, 
and  fight. 

I  told  you  that  one  of  the  tasks  which  Hercules 
had  to  perform  was  to  clean  out  the  stables  of 
Angeas.  I  think  we  have  all  such  a  task  to  do 
daily.  We  have  to  look  into  our  lives,  and  see  what 
bad  thoughts  and  wishes  are  hiding  there,  and  then, 
by  God's  help,  we  must  try  to  get  rid  of  them.  Do 
you  know  that  the  Chinese  have  a  very  wise  saying, 
"  The  best  way  to  keep  the  city  clean,  is  for  every 


6i  parable  J-crmoniS  fnr  Cftiltircn. 

one  to  sweep  before  his  own  door."'  Remember 
that,  children  ;  don't  think  about  the  faults  of  others, 
but  about  your  own  ;  and  sweep  before  your  own  door. 

Now  think,  what  is  my  sin,  my  special  temptation? 
Am  I  fighting  against  it  as  hard  as  I  can  ?  Cannot 
I  pray  more  often,  and  more  earnestly?  cannot  I  keep 
a  more  strict  watch  over  my  words  ? 

Then  think  of  the  hydra— the  hideous  monster 
sin,  with  its  hundred  heads.  The  devil  sends  us  temp- 
tations in  many  different  forms.  For  one,  there  is  bad 
company ;  for  another,  there  is  a  vile  book  ;  for  some 
there  is  a  passionate,  unruly  temper;  for  others,  there 
is  pride,  which  teaches  a  child  tc  be  sulky  when  he 
is  reproved,  and  to  mutter  to  himself,  "I  don't  care." 
And  there  are  hundreds  of  other  temptations.  Be 
prepared  for  them,  they  come  from  your  enemy,  the 
devil.  Ask  Jesus  who  was  tempted  to  help  you  in 
temptation.  Say  to  Him,  "Lord,  I  am  weak,  I  am 
only  a  little  tempted  child,  help  me  to  fight,  and 
to  triumph  against  the  world,  and  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil." 


SERMON   X. 


THE     BEAUTIFUL     GARDEN. 


Romans  v.  12. 
"  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin.'' 

Once  upon  a  time,  long  ago,  so  the  old  Greeks  tell 
us,  there  was  a  very  beautiful  garden.  It  must  have 
been  better  than  any  which  we  have  ever  seen,  for 
nothing  in  it  grew  old,  or  ever  died  ;  the  flowers 
were  always  blooming,  and  the  fruit  was  ever  ripe. 
There  were  no  venomous  reptiles  nor  insects  in  the 
garden,  no  black  clouds  to  darken  the  sky,  no 
storms,  nor  blight,  nor  frost.  A  number  of  children 
lived  and  played  in  this  beautiful  garden  :  at  least, 
they  seemed  like  children,  for  they  never  grew  old. 
They  were  perfectly  innocent  and  happy,  and  never 

E 


6G  iOara^blc  ^crman^  for  CbiUfreu. 


tired.  They  knew  nothing  about  pain  or  trouble ; 
they  had  never  heard  of  head-ache,  or  tooth-ache,  or 
medicine,  and  they  didn't  know  what  tears  and 
crying  meant.  Moreover,  these  children  never 
quarrelled  with  each  other  ;  you  never  saw  them 
with  red  faces,  and  flashing  eyes,  and  doubled  fists. 
They  never  struck  or  pinched  each  other,  or  said 
cross,  unkind  words.  No  child  was  jealous  of 
another,  for  everyone  loved  everyone  else.  You 
can  see  that  this  must  have  been  a  very  long  time 
ago,  when  the  world  was  quite  young. 

Well,  among  the  children  was  a  boy,  who  lived 
with  his  companion  in  a  little  cottage  in  the  beautiful 
garden,  all  covered  over  with  climbing  flowers. 
The  girl's  name  was  Pandora,  and  the  way  in  which 
she  got  her  name  was  this  :  the  Greeks  fancied  that 
all  their  gods  had  given  her  gifts;  one  had  given 
her  beauty,  another  cleverness,  one  sent  the  gift  of 
singing,  another  of  dancing ;  so  she  was  called 
Pandora,  which  means  evejy  gift.  These  children 
were  perfectly  happy,  like  the  others  in  the  beautiful 
garden.  They  had  no  cares  or  anxieties  ;  they  were 
never  doubtful  about  to-morrow,  but  when  it  came 
it  was  as  happy  as  the  day  before.  One  day, 
however,  when  Pandora  entered  their  cottage,  she 
saw  a  mysterious-looking  box  in  one  corner.     She 


^Ift  23eauttful  (Sartfrn.  67 

asked  how  it  had  come  there,  and  her  companion 
told  her  that  it  had  been  brought  by  a  stranger,  and 
that  the  stranger  had  bidden  him  take  great  care  of 
the  box,  and  if  he  would  be  happy,  and  make  others 
so,  he  must  on  no  account  open  the  lid.  Soon  a 
change  came  over  Pandora,  she  was  not  so  perfectly 
happy  and  gay  as  she  had  been.  The  mysterious 
box  was  always  in  her  mind ;  she  was  continually 
looking  at  it,  and  wondering  what  it  held.  Instead 
of  wandering  through  the  beautiful  garden  with 
her  companion,  gathering  the  flowers  which  never 
faded.  Pandora  stayed  in  the  cottage,  looking  at  the 
box.  Sometimes  she  fancied  she  could  hear 
w^hispering  voices  around  her.  What  cou/d  be  in 
the  box  ?  Siie  asked  the  question  over  and  over 
again.  Then  she  thought  there  could  be  no  harm 
in  opening  the  Hd,  and  she  talked  to  her  brother 
about  it;  but  he  reminded  her  that  they  were 
forbidden  to  do  so,  if  they  would  be  happy  them- 
selves, and  make  others  so.  Then  he  would  ask 
Pandora  to  come  and  play  with  him  as  of  old,  but 
she  seemed  to  care  no  longer  for  the  garden  and 
its  pleasures,  and  sat  in  the  cottage  looking  at  the 
box.  And  so  the  cottage  was  not  so  happy  and  full 
of  sunshine  as  before,  when  Pandora  had  been 
perfectly   content.      Every   day,  as   she   fixed   her 


G8  laaratlc  ^ermnii^  far  CliiUJrrn. 

longing  eyes  on  the  box,  she  seemed  to  hear  a 
whisper  in  her  ear — "  Open  the  hd  a  httle  way,  it 
can't  do  any  harm." 

Now  of  course  it  was  a  very  great  temptation  for 
Pandora.  Would  not  you  have  wanted  very  much  to 
open  the  lid  ?  It  was  very  natural  that  Pandora 
should  wish  to  know  what  was  in  the  box,  but  she 
should  have  remembered  the  command  and  have 
kept  away  from  the  temptation.  Instead  of  that  she 
always  had  the  box  before  her  eyes,  and  sometimes 
she  would  try  to  lift  it,  but  it  was  far  too  heavy,  and 
fastened  with  strongly  knotted  cords. 

One  day  Pandora  thought  to  herself  that  there 
could  be  no  harm  in  unfastening  the  knotted  cord, 
she  need  not  touch  the  lid.  She  was  alone  in  the 
cottage,  her  brother  was  playing  with  other  children 
in  the  beautiful  garden,  and  Pandora  could  hear 
through  the  open  window  the  sounds  of  singing 
birds  and  merry  voices.  But  her  face  was  very 
anxious  and  troubled,  as  her  fmgers  were  busy  with 
the  knots  in  the  cord.  Why  did  not  she  hasten 
away,  and  seek  her  brother,  and  join  in  his  play  ? 
No,  the  voice  kept  whispering  in  her  ear — "  It  won't 
do  any  harm  !  "  Still  she  handled  the  knot,  till 
suddenly  it  became  unfastened.  Then  Pandora 
was  frightened  at  what  she  had  done.     She  tried 


etc  38cautifiil  (Sarticii.  69 

with  trembling  fingers  to  tie  the  cord  again,  but 
although  it  was  easy  to  unfasten  the  knot,  it  was 
impossible  for  her  to  tie  it  again.  She  placed  one 
hand  on  the  lid  of  the  box  :  the  voice  v\^as  whispering 
very  loudly  now — "  Lift  it  just  a  little,  it  won't 
matter  !  "  Whilst  she  hesitated,  her  brother  entered 
the  cottage,  just  in  time  to  see  Pandora  raise  the 
lid.  Then  a  very  wonderful  thing  happened.  A 
black  cloud,  like  smoke,  rushed  out  of  the  box, 
nearly  choking  the  children.  This  cloud  seemed 
crowded  with  living  creatures,  all  struggling  together, 
and  it  soon  filled  the  cottage,  once  so  bright  and 
clean,  and  made  it  black  and  dirty.  The  window 
of  the  cottage  was  open,  and  the  cloud  rolled  out  of 
it,  and  spread  all  over  the  beautiful  garden,  till  the 
sunshine  was  quite  hidden.  Pandora  was  so 
frisjhtened  that  she  shut  down  the  lid  of  the  box 
and  stood  crying.  She  had  never  cried  before,  had 
never  known  what  tears  meant.  What  had  she 
done  ?  She  did  not  know.  People  who  do  wrong, 
my  children,  never  know  how  much  harm  they  have 
caused.  But  what  had  Pandora  done  ?  The 
mysterious  box  held  all  the  troubles  of  the  world ; 
all  the  diseases,  and  aches,  and  pains,  and  sorrows, 
and  cares  ;  all  the  bad  tempers  and  angry  passions, 
and  Pandora  had  let  them  out. 


70  parable  ^tvman^  for  €\^il\Jrcn. 

■  Now  the  beautiful  garden  was  changed.  Dark 
clouds  and  thick  fogs  hid  the  sunshine,  and  the 
flowers  drooped  and  withered.  The  fruit  was 
blighted,  and  the  children  were  no  longer  the 
happy,  gay  creatures  they  had  been.  They  began 
to  grow  old  ;  they  no  longer  cared  for  innocent  play, 
for  they  had  all  sorts  of  troubles  to  bear.  One  had 
a  head-ache,  another  was  tired,  this  one  found  fault 
with  his  food,  that  one  ate  of  it  too  greedily.  Instead 
of  the  happy  songs  and  laughter  which  used  to  be 
heard  in  the  garden,  angry  voices  and  quarrelling 
disturbed  the  once  peaceful  scene.  The  leaves  fell 
from  the  trees,  and  withered.  The  children  became 
old  and  feeble,  and  died,  and  were  no  more  seen. 
What  had  been  the  beautiful  garden  became  almost 
like  a  desert.  Pandora  and  her  brother  were  very 
sad  and  miserable,  but  that  would  not  undo  the 
mischief. 

Presently  Pandora,  thinking  that  nothing  now 
remained  in  the  box,  raised  the  lid  again,  and 
immediately  a  bright  star  seemed  to  rise  out  of  the 
chest,  and  shine  above  them.  Whilst  the  children 
gazed  on  the  star,  and  felt  comforted,  a  voice  told 
them  that  it  was  called  IloJ^e,  and  then  when  all  the 
troubles  were  let  loose  among  men,  Hope  remained 
to  them. 


C!)e  Beautiful  ©arlien.  71 

So  Pandora  and  her  brother  went  forth  from  the 
once  happy  cottage,  ruined  by  disobedience  ;  and 
instead  of  playing  in  the  beautiful  garden,  they  went 
far  away  into  a  strange  country,  where  they  had  to 
work  hard  every  day.  They  felt,  too,  that  they 
were  daily  growing  older,  and  they  often  felt  pain, 
and  shed  many  tears.  But  then  they  looked  up, 
and  saw  the  Star  of  Hope  shining,  and  so  they 
took  courage.  They  had  been  promised  that  Hope 
should  lead  them  on,  till  at  last  they  should  find  the 
beautiful  garden  again,  fair  as  ever,  with  no  fading 
flower,  no  sorrow,  nor  crying. 

Now,  my  children,  let  us  turn  from  the  parable, 
and  learn  its  lessons.  The  beautiful  garden  reminds 
us  of  Paradise,  when  all  the  world  was  young,  and 
fresh,  and  fair ;  when  God  looked  on  all  that  He 
had  made,  "  and  behold,  it  was  very  good  "  ;  vv'hen 
there  were  no  troubles,  nor  sorrows,  because  there 
was  no  sin.  When  we  hear  of  Pandora  having  all 
the  gifts  of  the  gods,  we  think  of  Eve,  fresh  from  the 
hands  of  God,  and  dwelling  in  the  beautiful  garden 
of  Eden.  There  came  a  whisper  of  temptation  to 
Pandora  to  be  disobedient ;  so,  too,  the  tempter 
spoke  to  Eve,  and  said,  "  Ye  shall  not  surely  die." 
I  told  you  how  Pandora  kept  looking  at  the  box, 
and   at   last  opened   the   lid.      So    Eve   began   by 


^3ara6le  Sermons?  far  C^tHrrcn. 


looking  at  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  wishing  for  it, 
and  ended  by  tasting  it. 

My  children,  when  a  temptation  comes  to  you 
look  away  from  it ;  if  you  are  tempted  to  look,  you 
will  be  tempted  to  wish,  and  wishing  will  be  followed 
by  doing  what  is  wrong.  What  were  the  sins  of 
Pandora  ?  Curiosity  and  disobedience.  Yes,  and 
these  were  the  very  sins  of  Eve.  Well,  after 
Pandora  had  been  disobedient,  and  had  opened  the 
box,  all  the  world  was  filled  with  sorrow,  and  sins, 
and  sicknesses.  People  had  to  work  in  pain  and 
trouble  ;  they  began  to  grow  old,  and  die.  Not 
only  were  Pandora  and  her  brother  punished,  but 
everyone  suffered  for  her  sin.  Can  you  remember  a 
text  which  tells  us  how  sin  and  death  came  into  the 
world  ?  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world, 
and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all 
men,  for  all  have  sinned."  You  rememember  that 
after  Pandora  had  sinned  the  people  in  the  beautiful 
garden  were  all  changed,  they  began  to  quarrel  with 
each  other.  That  reminds  us  that  after  Adam  and 
Eve  fell  Cain  hated  his  brother  Abel,  and  slew  him. 

My  children,  as  long  as  you  keep  innocency,  and 
try  to  do  the  will  of  Jesus,  and  keep  close  to  Him, 
you  are,  as  it  were,  living  in  Paradise.  Innocency 
is  like  that  beautiful  garden  of  Eden.     But  when 


€f)e  23eautiful  <SarXfen. 


you  do  wrong,  when  you  do  what  God  has  forbidden, 
all  becomes  changed,  you  are  no  more  happy, 
innocent  children,  you  are  like  Pandora  when  she 
had  raised  the  lid  of  her  fatal  box.  Troubles  and 
sorrows  are  around  you,  and  they  are  the  fruits  of 
sin.  You  are  not  only  unhappy  yourselves,  but  you 
make  others  so  ;  a  bad  child  makes  others  miserable. 
Every  time  you  get  into  a  passion,  or  tell  a  lie,  or 
do  some  other  wrong  thing,  you  are  like  Pandora 
opening  the  box  of  troubles. 

But  although  the  child  in  the  parable  had  done 
wrong,  and  was  punished,  something  was  sent  to 
comfort  her — the  Star  of  Ht-pe.  Was  there  any 
such  Star  of  Hope  given  to  Adam  and  Eve  ?  Yes, 
indeed,  although  their  sin  brought  sorrow,  and 
death  on  all  men,  there  was  given  the  promise  of  a 
Saviour,  of  Jesus,  the  Bright  and  Morning  Star. 
They  and  all  men  were  to  live  in  the  hope  of  a 
Redeemer,  who  should  conquer  sin  and  death.  Do 
you  remember  how  certain  men,  mentioned  in  the 
Gospel,  did  see  the  Star  of  Hope  guiding  them  ? 
Yes,  the  Wise  Men  from  the  East ;  and  "when  they 
saw  the  star,  they  rejoiced  with  exceeding  great  joy." 
We  have  lost  the  beautiful  garden  of  Paradise  through 
Adam's  sin,  and  we  all  have  to  work  in  this  world, 
and  to  bear  sorrow  and  pain,  but  every  Christian 


74  Parable  ^exmani  for  CtjiUfreii. 

child  can  look  on  the  Star  of  Hope,  guiding  him 
to  Jesus. 

Let  our  prayer  be  this  : — "  Grant  us,  we  beseech 
Thee,  that  having  this  hope,  we  may  purify  our- 
selves even  as  He  is  pure ;  that  when  He  shall 
appear  again,  VN^ith  power  and  great  glory,  we  may  be 
made  like  unto  Him  in  His  eternal  and  glorious 
kingdom." 


SERMON   XL 


THE     NEW     WORLD. 


Revelation"  xxi.  i. 
"I  saw  a  new  Heaven,  and  anew  earth." 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  shell  brought  from  the  bottom 
of  the  sea?  It  has  been  lying  there  among  the 
coral,  and  the  bright  sea-weeds,  perhaps  for  many, 
many  years.  The  fish,  whose  house  the  shell  once 
was,  has  been  dead  for  a  long  time,  and  the  shell 
lies  in  your  hand  quite  still  and  silent.  But  if  you 
put  it  close  to  your  ear  you  will  find  that  the  shell 
is  not  silent,  it  makes  a  sound  like  the  winds  and 
waves.  For  ages,  perhaps,  the  sea  has  been  telling 
its  wonderful  story  to  the  shell,  down  in  the  deep, 


76  Parable  ^tvmani  fax  CbtUrren. 

clear  water,  and  I  like  to  fancy  that  when  we  listen 
to  it  the  shell  repeats  the  story  to  us.  Ah  !  what 
marvellous  stories,  and  what  wonderful  secrets  the 
sea  must  have. 

Perhaps  you  have  heard  of  the  little  dying  boy, 
who,  when  he  sat  on  the  shore,  and  watched  the 
waves  rolling  in,  one  after  another,  wanted  to  know 
what  they  were  saying.  It  would  be  very  delightful, 
children,  if  we  could  only  understand  what  "the 
wild  waves  are  saying."  Well,  let  us  fancy  that  we 
are  holding  the  shell  to  our  ear,  and  listening  to  the 
story  of  the  sea,  what  will  it  tell  us  ?  what  will  it  teach 
us  ?  There  are  so  many  stories  for  the  shell  to  tell 
us.  One  is  about  storms  and  tempest,  when  the 
good  ship  was  broken  and  battered  by  the  waves ; 
another  story  is  about  poor  ship-wrecked  people,  who 
have  drifted  for  days  in  an  open  boat,  without  food, 
or  water,  suffering  terrible  pain,  but  saved  at  last  by 
God's  mercy.  There  are  many  such  sad  stories 
which  the  shell  could  tell  us.  Or  it  might  be  a 
story  of  a  battle  fought  at  sea  ;  how  once  a  great 
fleet  came  to  attack  England,  called  the  Invincible 
Armada,  and  how  brave  British  sailors  went  forth  to 
meet  the  Spaniard,  and  how  the  fleet  was  all  broken 
and  destroyed.  Or  the  shell  might  whisper  the  story 
of  Augustine  and  his  monks.     It  might  tell  us  how, 


etc  ^m  USavlis.  77 


long  ago,  when  the  Saxons  ruled  in  England,  and 
when  princes  and  people  were  heathens,  and  wor- 
shipped idols,  forty  holy  men  landed  in  Kent,  and 
told  the  Saxon  king,  and  his  fierce  warriors,  about 
Jesus,  the  meek  and  gentle.  A  beautiful  story  is 
that,  my  children,  how  our  forefathers  became 
Christians,  and  how  the  Cathedral  of  Canterbury  was 
built,  and  another  ancient  Church  there,  where  you 
may  see,  as  I  have  seen,  the  very  font  in  which  the 
Saxon  Queen  was  baptized.  But  these  are  not  the 
stories  which  the  sea-shell  will  tell  us  now.  This 
shell  came,  perhaps,  from  the  deep  blue  ocean  which 
rolls  around  the  West  Indian  Islands,  and  it  will 
murmur  to  us  about  lovely  spots  where  palm-trees 
grow,  and  the  most  delicious  fruits  hang  on  the  trees, 
and  the  birds  and  flowers  are  of  the  brightest  and 
most  beautiful  colours.  But  the  shell  will  tell  us 
more ;  it  will  tell  us  the  story  of  the  man  who  dis- 
covered those  lovely  places,  the  New  World,  as  they 
were  called.     This  is  the  story. 

Close  upon  four  hundred  years  ago,  there  was 
living  a  great  and  brave  man,  named  Christopher 
Columbus.  Each  of  his  two  names  has  a  very 
important  meaning.  Christopher  signifies,  Christ- 
bearer ;  and  Columbus  means  a  dove.  So  this  great 
and  brave  sailor  was  the  Christ-bearing  dove.     A  very 


pamMc  fi?rrman5  far  CftiHircn. 


beautiful  name,  my  children,  and  he  was  worthy  of 
it.  Wherever  he  went  he  bore  the  love  of  Christ 
in  his  heart,  and  although  he  was  as  brave  as  a  lion, 
yet  he  was  as  gentle  and  patient  as  a  dove.  In  the 
times  when  Columbus  lived  people  were  very 
ignorant.  Any  of  you  children  would  be  astonished 
at  the  little  they  knew.  But  you  must  remember 
that  there  were  very  few  schools,  very  few  books, 
and  very  few  people  who  could  read  and  write.  In 
Spain,  where  Columbus  was  living,  the  king  and  the 
queen,  as  well  as  the  most  learned  scholars,  believed 
that  the  world  was  flat  instead  of  round.  Well 
Columbus,  who  was  much  wiser  than  they,  and  had 
often  been  to  sea,  assured  the  king  that  the  world 
was  round,  and  that  there  were  other  lands  far  off, 
rich  and  beautiful,  if  only  they  coujd  be  found. 
Some  people  laughed  at  Columbus,  and  thought 
him  mad ;  others  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  seeking 
the  New  World.  Every  one  put  difficulties  in  his 
way,  but  he  persevered,  though  he  was  persecuted, 
and  insulted,  and  disappointed,  over  and  over 
again.  He  felt  that  God  had  chosen  him  to  discover 
this  New  World,  and  to  be  the  Christ-bearer  to  those 
who  had  never  heard  of  Jesus.  At  last,  after  a  very 
long  time,  Columbus  managed  to  get  some  ships 
and  men,  and  set  sail.     I  have  not  time  to  tell  you 


Cij0  <Sr&j  ©KorHr.  79 

about  his  trials  and  misfortunes ;  how  some  of  the 
sailors  mutinied,  and  tried  to  throw  their  captain 
overboard ;  how  they  cried  hke  cowards  at  the  sight 
of  the  wide,  unknown  ocean,  how  they  actually 
thought,  in  their  ignorance,  that  the  ship  would  sail 
to  the  edge  of  the  flat  world,  and  then  fall  over  it. 
The  crew  tried  to  force  Columbus  to  go  back,  but 
he  sailed  steadily  on,  day  after  day,  praying  to  God 
that  he  might  find  the  New  World,  bearing  the  love 
of  Christ  in  his  heart. 

One  day  some  strange  birds  flew  round  his  ship, 
then  a  branch  covered  with  berries  floated  by,  and 
Columbus  knew  he  was  near  land.  Presently  they 
saw  the  shore,  and  all  fell  on  their  knees  and  thanked 
God  that  they  had  discovered  the  New  World. 
Then  Columbus  landed,  and  holding  up  the  cross, 
took  possession  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  called 
the  island  San  Salvador,  which  means  Holy  Saviour. 

Well,  after  this,  Columbus  found  many  other 
lands,  and  bore  many  sorrows  and  misfortunes.  He 
w^as  cruelly  ill-treated,  and  at  one  time  loaded  with 
chains,  and  he  died  poor  and  neglected ;  but  he  had 
done  his  duty,  and  was  able  with  his  last  breath  to 
thank  God  that  he  had  found  the  New  World. 

This    is    the    sea-shell's    story    of    Christopher 
Columbus.      I  think,  my  children,  we  may  find  a 


80  Parable  ^tvmani  far  Cl)iUrren. 

lesson  here.  First,  the  name  of  the  great  discoverer 
should  teach  us  something.  He  was  called  Chris- 
topher— the  Christ-bearer.  Now  you  all  have  a 
Christian  name,  which  is  given  you  in  your  Baptism, 
and  although,  perhaps,  none  of  you  were  baptised 
Christopher,  yet  in  one  sense  you  are  all  Christ- 
bearers.  Every  Christian  child  is  pledged  to  bear 
something — the  name  of  Christ,  and  to  be  made 
like  unto  Him.  Yes,  and  more  than  that,  every 
Christian  must  bear  his  Cross,  for  Jesus  says 
if  any  man  will  be  His  disciple,  he  must  take  up  his 
cross,  and  follow  Him.  What  does  bearing  the  cross 
mean,  my  children  ?  Denying  ourselves,  giving  up 
our  own  way,  bearing  trouble  and  sorrow  patiently. 
Yes,  it  means  all  this,  and  it  means,  too,  putting 
up  with  other  people's  tempers  and  unkindness, 
being  meek  and  forgiving  when  people  say  cruel 
and  unjust  things  about  us.  O,  my  children, 
everyone  of  you  should  try  to  be  a  Christopher, — a 
Christ-bearer. 

Then  the  second  name  of  the  great  discoverer 
means  a  Dove.  Every  true  Christian  should  be 
gentle.  Our  Lord  says,  "  Be  ye  wise  as  serpents, 
and  harmless  as  doves."  It  is  not  a  sign  of  courage 
to  be  rough,  and  violent,  and  cruel.  The  bravest 
and  most  famous  men  have  been  gentle.     Columbus 


Cbe  df^cto  Emorin.  81 

was  a  hero,  yet  he  was  well  named  the  Christ- 
bearing  dovj.  To  be  gentle,  patient,  self-denying, 
is  a  sure  mark  of  a  brave  man,  and  of  a  Christian 
man  also.  The  great  wish  of  Columbus  was  to 
discover  the  New  World.  That  also  should  be  the 
great  desire  of  out:  life.  Do  you  know  where  that 
Njw  World  is  ?  In  Heaven, — the  better  country, 
that  is  a  Heavenly.  We  know  there  is  such  a  New 
World.  Our  Lord  says,  "  In  My  Father's  house  are 
many  mansions,  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you." 
And  S.  John  tells  us  that  in  his  wonderful  vision  he 
saw  "a  new  Heaven,  and  a  new  earth."  Ignorant 
people  laughed  at  Columbus,  and  told  him  there  was 
no  New  World,  and  tried  to  keep  him  back  from 
seeking  it.  There  are  such  people  now,  some 
ignorant,  some  wicked,  who  try  to  make  us  believe 
that  when  we  leave  this  world  there  is  no  new  world 
for  us  to  go  to.  You  would  not  like  to  think  that, 
my  children.  You  would  not  like  to  believe  that 
your  dear  mother  who  is  gone,  or  your  little  brother, 
or  sister,  who  left  the  earth,  have  no  home  now,  and 
that  you  never  will  see  them  again.  You  would 
rather  believe  with  me,  that  we  have  a  home  eternal 
in  the  Heavens. 

Well,  you  remember  that  Columbus  had  to  cross 
many  waters,  and  to  bear  many  sorrows  and  troubles 

F 


Paralble  s-crmon^  far  Ctiltircn* 


before  he  found  the  New  World.  We  have  to  do 
the  same.  Before  we  begin  our  journey  to  the  New 
World,  we  must  pass  through  the  water  of  Baptism, 
then  we  set  out  on  the  road  to  Heaven,  the  narrow 
way  which  leads  to  life  eternal.  Every  time  you  try 
to  do  right,  and  to  conquer  sin;  every  time  you 
come  near  to  God  in  prayer,  and  in  the  services  of 
the  Church  ;  every  time  you  elder  children  come  to 
the  Altar  in  Holy  Communion,  you  have  got  a  step 
nearer  the  New  World.  And  there  are  other  waters 
to  be  crossed,  dark  waters  of  temptation,  bitter  storms 
of  sorrow  or  self-denial,  rough  waves  of  difficulty, — 
the  waves  of  this  troublesome  world.  But  just  as 
God  brought  Columbus  safe  through  all,  so  the  same 
God  will  carry  you.  His  children,  you  who  are  called 
to  be  in  character,  Christ-bearing  doves,  through  all 
trials,  and  bring  you  'safe  through  all  temptations ; 
and  when  you  have  passed  through  the  last  sea  of 
all,  which  is  called  deaths  your  eyes  shall  look  on  the 
beauty  of  the  New  World,  and  "so  shall  you  be 
ever  with  the  Lord." 

Once  a  little  sickly  boy  was  taken  by  kind  friends 
from  a  stifling  London  garret,  for  a  pleasure  trip  in 
a  river  steamer.  As  he  looked  at  the  crowd  of  ships 
lying  around  him,  preparing  for  their  voyage,  he 
asked  where  they  were  all  going.     He  was  told  that 


CI)C  ^cfio  2:2a[orHi.  83 


they  were  going  abroad.  i\fter  a  long  silence,  he 
raised  his  eyes  up  towards  the  blue  sky,  and  whis- 
pered, "I  am  going  abroad  too,"  and  so  passed 
away  to  the  New  World,  the  better  country,  "the 
land  beyond  the  sea." 


SERMON   XIL 


THE     STRANGE     GUESTS. 


Hebrews  xiii.  2. 

' '  Be  not  forgetful  to  entertain  strangers :  for  thereby  some 
have  entertained  angels  unawares." 

Listen  to  arxother  story  of  the  old  Greeks,  which 
carries  a  very  beautiful  lesson  with  it.  You 
remember  that  these  Greeks  did  not  know  the  true 
God,  and  worshipped  all  sorts  of  false  gods.  Well, 
they  tell  us  that  the  people  in  a  certain  part  of  the 
world  had  become  very  rich,  and  very  wicked.  They 
were  specially  cruel  to  strangers,  and  if  any  traveller 
visited  their  neighbourhood  they  would  drive  him 
from  their  doors,  and  often  stone  him  with  stones. 
Things  grew  so  bad,  that  at  last  two  of  the  gods, 


as  the  Greeks  called  them,  determined  to  come  on. 
the  earth  in  human  form,  and  judge  for  themselves. 
They  took  the  shape  of  poor,  roughly-clad  travellers, 
and  went  from  one  great  house  to  another,  asking 
for  food  and  shelter.  Now  if  the  people  who  hved 
in  those  grand  houses  had  known  w^ho  the  travellers 
were,  they  would  have  opened  the  doors  gladly, 
and  have  given  them  of  their  best.  But  they  only 
saw  two  poor  way-faring  men,  who  asked  for  a  little 
food,  and  a  night's  lodging ;  so  the  cruel  people  ot 
the  town  drove  them  away,  and  even  threw  stones 
at  them.  At  last,  when  the  two  travellers  had  been 
driven  quite  outside  the  city,  they  saw  a  simple 
thatched  cottage,  standing  on  the  hill-side.  It  did 
not  seem  very  likely  that  they  would  find  any 
refreshment  there,  for  the  place  evidently  belonged 
to  poor  people.  But  we  must  never  judge  by 
appearances^  my  children.  The  people  of  this  cottage 
were  very  poor,  but  they  were  good,  and  kind  and 
honest,  not  the  laast  like  the  other  dwellers  in 
the  town. 

The  owner  of  the  cottage  was  an  old  man  named 
Philemon,  who  tilled  a  little  patch  of  ground,  and 
managed  to  live  honestly,  but  very  poorly.  Both 
he  and  his  old  wife  Baucis  were  ashamed  of  their 
wicked  neighbours  in  the  town,  and  were  always  ready 


86  Parable  ^txmanS  for  C|)iKrrcn. 

to  show  kindness  to  strangers.  The  two  travellers 
went  to  the  cottage  door,  and  asked  for  food,  and 
lodging.  Instead  of  shutting  the  door  against  them, 
or  calling  them  bad  names,  as  the  people  in  the 
town  had  done,  Baucis  and  Philemon  made  the 
strangers  welcome.  They  set  such  common  food 
as  they  had  before  them,  and  a  cup  of  wine,  the 
only  one  remaining.  The  travellers  sat  down  to 
their  meal,  and  told  the  old  cottagers  that  they 
could  afford  to  pay  for  their  food.  But  Baucis  and 
Philemon  would  take  no  money,  and  assured  their 
guests  that  they  were  welcome  to  such  as  they  had. 
Then  the  strange  guests  asked  the  old  people  to  sup 
with  them,  but  they  declined,  because  there  was 
Httle  enough  for  the  travellers,  and  nothing  more 
in  the  house. 

One  of  the  strangers,  however,  spoke  as  one  in 
authority,  and  said,  "  Fear  not,  Baucis  and  Philemon, 
the  food  shall  not  fail."  So  the  old  people  sat  down 
to  the  table,  and  although  the  supper  v»'as  the  same 
coarse  fare  which  they  always  had,  it  now  tasted 
like  the  most  dehcious  food  which  ever  was  served 
in  a  rich  man's  house. 

Baucis  and  Philemon  looked  on  their  guests,  and 
on  each  other,  with  astonishment,  and  presently  they 
they  had  still  more  reason  to  do  so.     They  had 


(Ttc  ^trmxQt  (SUC5JW.  87 

noticed  that  the  cup  of  wine,  the  only  wine  in  the 
cottage,  had  been  emptied.  Yet  when  the  two 
travellers  passed  the  cup  to  Philemon  it  was  full  to 
the  brim,  and  the  wine  was  such  as  no  man,  not  even 
the  most  wealthy,  had  ever  tasted.  And  when  at 
last  supper  was  ended,  there  was  just  as  much  food 
and  wine  as  when  they  commenced  the  meal.  Whilst 
the  old  cottagers  were  wondering  what  these  things 
might  mean,  the  strange  guests  told  them  that  they 
had  entertained  no  common  travellers ;  and  that  as 
a  reward  for  their  unselfish  kindness,  they  should 
never  be  in  want,  or  poverty. 

Then  the  strangers  asked  Baucis  and  Philemon 
to  guide  them  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  When  they 
had  reached  the  summit,  they  turned  to  look  back 
at  the  town,  which  lay  in  a  valle)'.  But  there  was 
no  town  to  be  seen.  The  old  people  shaded  their 
eyes,  and  looked  anxiously  for  the  well-known  streets 
and  houses,  but  they  could  see  nothing  but  a  great 
lake  of  water,  which  filled  the  whole  valley.  The 
wicked  town  was  drowned.  Only  one  house  was  to 
be  seen,  and  that  was  the  thatched  cottage  of 
Philemon.  Again,  the  old  people  looked  sadly  at 
the  lake,  for  they  pitied  their  wicked  neighbours, 
who  had  been  so  terribly  punished.  But  when  they 
turned  their  eyes  once  more  to  their  own  cottage. 


^aralle  ^frmoniS  for  Ctiltrrcn. 


that  too  had  disappeared,  and  in  its  place  stood  a 
beautiful  temple,  with  fair  marble  columns  shining 
in  the  setting  sunlight. 

Then  the  strange  guests  told  Baucis  and  Philemon 
that  this  was  their  future  home,  and  that  they  should 
live  in  the  beautiful  temple,  and  tend  and  keep  it. 
"And  now,"  said  the  travellers,  "  we  must  leave  you, 
but,  before  we  go,  ask  what  you  will,  and  you  shall 
have  your  wish,  in  return  for  the  kindness  you  have 
shown."  So  Baucis  and  Philemon,  who  were  simple, 
contented  folks,  and  had  no  thought  of  riches  or 
honour,  asked  that,  as  they  had  lived  so  long  together, 
and  grown  old  side  by  side,  they  might  both  die  on 
the  same  day,  so  that  in  death  they  might  not  be 
parted.  Their  request  w^as  granted;  and  when, 
many  years  afterwards,  the  two  old  people  died  in 
the  same  hour,  travellers  noticed  two  fair  trees,  an 
oak  and  a  lime,  standing  over  their  graves,  beneath 
whose  shade  the  weary  wayfarer  loved  to  rest,  and 
tell  the  story  of  Baucis  and  Philemon. 

Now,  my  children,  this  old  story  of  the  Greeks  is 
a  parable  for  us  to  learn  from.  It  teaches  us  one 
very  plain  lesson,  to  be  unselfish,  to  think  of  others, 
to  help  our  neighbour.  Our  Saviour,  Jesus,  taught 
the  same  lesson,  in  the  parable  of  the  Good 
Samaritan.     You  see  those  humble  cottagers  were 


C1)P  »tvnnQe  &\tt^t^,  89 

entertaining  very  great  people  indeed,  although  they 
did  not  know  it.  There  is  a  text  in  the  Bible  which 
says  something  about  this.  ''Be  not  forgetful  to 
entertain  strangers,  for  thereby  some  have  enter- 
tained angels  unawares."  Can  you  remember 
anyone  mentioned  in  the  Bible  who  thus  entertained 
angels  unawares  ?  Abraham,  when  he  dwelt  in  the 
plains  of  Mamre.  And  Lot,  also,  when  he  was  sitting 
in  the  gate  of  wicked  Sodom,  was  visited  by  two 
angels.  When  those  two  strange  visitors  came  to 
Baucis  and  Philemon,  you  remember  that  the  store 
of  food  and  wine  did  not  fail.  Now  that  is  only  a 
legend  ;  but  there  is  a  true  story  in  the  Bible  of  a 
poor  widow  who  entertained  God's  prophet,  Elijah, 
and  her  barrel  of  meal,  and  her  cruse  of  oil,  were 
supplied  by  a  miracle.  Thus  we  learn  that  if  we  are 
good  and  kind  to  others,  God  will  reward  us,  and 
not  let  us  come  to  want. 

And  now  let  us  learn  another  lesson.  Was  there 
not  someone  else  who  came  down  to  this  earth,  and 
lived  poor  and  despised  among  men  ?  Yes,  you 
know  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  Begotten 
Son  of  God,  became  man,  and  dwelt  among  us. 
He  went  to  many  homes,  and  said,  "  Behold  I 
stand  at  the  door,  and  knock."  And  they  would 
not     open     to    Him.       Some    few    made    Jesus 


90  ^araljle  ^crmouiS  far  Cljiltrrni. 

welcome,  like  Martha  and  Mary,  and  the  disciples, 
but  most  people  despised  Him,  and  tried  to  kill 
Him.  Now  think,  dear  children,  does  Jesus  Christ 
ever  come  to  our  homes  now,  and  knock  at  the 
door  ?  Yes,  in  one  sense  He  does.  He  comes  to 
us,  and  offers  to  abide  with  us,  and  bless  us.  Do 
you  know  hoiv  He  lives  with  us  ?  In  our  hearts. 
I  wonder  whether  you  know  how  we  can  open  the 
door  to  Jesus  Christ,  so  that  He  may  come  in  and 
dwell  with  us  ?  I  will  tell  you  ;  whenever  you  do 
anything  good  or  loving  to  one  of  Christ's  people, 
you  do  it  to  Christ  Himself.  He  says,  "  Inasmuch 
as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these, 
my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  Me."  I  will  tell 
you  a  story  about  that.  Long  ago,  there  was  a 
brave  soldier,  named  Martin,  who,  though  not  yet 
baptized,  desired  to  become  a  Christian,  and  was 
being  prepared  for  the  holy  rite.  One  day,  when 
Martin  was  riding  forth  from  a  French  town  v»'ith 
his  brother  officers,  a  poor,  half-naked  beggar  lay  at 
the  city  gate,  shivering  with  cold,  and  asked  for 
alms.  The  other  soldiers  rode  by  without  heeding 
him,  but  Martin  drew  his  sword,  and  cutting  his 
soldier's  cloak  in  half,  gave  the  one  part  to  cover  the 
beggar.  Martin's  companions  laughed  at  him  as  he 
rode  along  with  half  a  cloak ;  but  that  night,  when  he 


Cbe  strange  &\tt^U*  91 

had  gone  to  bed,  a  vision  appeared  to  Martin,  and 
he  thought  he  saw  the  Lord  Jesus  wrapped  in  a  gar- 
ment which  he  knew.  As  the  vision  grew  brighter, 
Martin  saw  that  the  Saviour  was  wearing  the  very 
half  of  the  cloak  which  he  had  given  to  the  beggar. 
And  now  one  thought  more.  When  the  Lord 
Jesus  comes  to  dwell  with  us,  and  be  our  guest,  He 
promises  us  such  good  things  as  pass  man's  under- 
standing. He  says,  "  Behold  I  stand  at  the  door, 
and  knock  ;  if  any  man  hear  My  voice,  and  open 
the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with 
him,  and  he  with  Me."  Yes,  my  children,  if  Jesus 
be  our  guest,  He  will  give  us  food  which  never  fails, 
and  you  know  that  that  food  is  the  Bread  of  Heaven, 
the  Blessed  Sacrament  of  Christ's  Body  and  Blood. 
And  He  will  grant  unto  us  not  to  die  all  at  one 
time,  but  to  live  for  ever ;  for  He  has  promised, 
"  Whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in  Me,  shall  never 
die."  Dear  children,  if  your  hearts  are  full  of  love 
for  Jesus,  and  for  each  other.  He  will  come  and 
dwell  there.     Let  us  sing  to  Him  to-day  : — 

"  Thou  didst  leave  Thy  throne  and  Thy  kingly  crown, 

When  Thou  earnest  to  earth  for  me  ; 
But  in  Bethlehem's  home  was  there  found  no  room 

For  Thy  Holy  Nativity. 
Oh  !  come  to  my  heart,  Lord  Jesus, 
There  is  room  in  my  heart  for  Thee." 


SERMON   XIII. 


TWO     LIVES. 


S.  Mark  x.  14. 
"Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  Me." 

In  a  certain  city  there  were  two  little  boys.  They 
were  of  the  same  age,  but  one  was  rich  and  the 
other  was  poor.  The  rich  child  lived  in  a  large 
house,  surrounded  by  a  beautiful  garden.  He  had 
loving  parents,  and  wise  teachers,  and  attentive 
servants  to  wait  on  him,  and  he  was  happy  as  the 
day  was  long.  The  poor  child  lived  in  a  garret,  in 
a  narrow  back  street  of  the  city.  He  was  not  only 
poor,  but  sickly,  and  a  cripple.  He  had  been  left 
an  orphan,  and  the  only  relations  he  had  thought 


Ctoa  Etbesf.  93 


the  crippled,  white-faced  child  a  trouble  to  them. 
Very  often  the  little  boy  was  obliged  to  lie  for  days 
upon  his  wretched  bed,  too  weak  and  ill  to  get  up. 
The  room  where  he  lived  was  small  and  ugly. 
There  was  nothing  to  brighten  it  or  make  it  cheerful, 
and  the  only  window  looked  into  the  sky.  In  the 
summer  the  hot  sun  shone  down  from  the  blue  sky, 
and  made  the  garret  stifling  as  an  oven.  In  the 
winter  the  rain  fell,  and  blurred  the  tiny  window,  as 
if  with  tears.  Day  after  day,  in  the  summer  time, 
the  poor  crippled  child  lay  in  this  hot  rooni.  He 
heard  the  merry  voices  of  other  children  in  the 
street,  and  knew  that  they  were  going  forth  to  play 
in  pleasant  meadows  outside  the  town.  How  he 
longed  to  go  with  them,  to  run  in  the  cricket  field, 
or  to  roll  amid  the  hay,  or  to  gather  flowers  in 
the  hedgerows  !  When  he  heard  the  Church  bells 
chiming  from  many  a  steeple,  the  poor  crippled  boy 
thought  of  the  healthy,  happy  children,  who  were 
going  to  sing  in  the  choir,  and  to  praise  Jesus,  the 
children's  Friend.  And  then,  though  he  felt  very 
lonely,  he  took  comfort,  for  he  remembered  that  a 
■good  man  had  told  him  how  his  Guardian  Angel 
was  always  watching  over  him,  in  his  poor,  hot 
.garret-room.  One  day,  when  the  little  boy  had 
managed  to  crawl  downstairs,  he  saw  that  some  of 


94  paralilc  ^crmonS  for  Clbiltfrcn. 

his  neighbours  had  been  moving  from  the  narrow 
street.  There  was  a  htter  of  straw  and  rubbish 
lying  in  the  road,  and  old,  worn  out  articles  which 
had  been  thrown  away  as  useless.  Among  them 
there  was  a  flower-pot,  old  and  cracked,  and  in  it 
was  growing  a  common  wild  flower,  which  some 
child  had  brought  home  from  the  fields.  The  poor, 
weakly  boy,  who  could  not  go  to  the  meadows, 
looked  on  the  flower  as  a  thing  of  beauty.  Its 
yellow  blossoms  seemed  to  him  like  gold.  The  old 
cracked  flower  pot  was  as  precious  in  his  eyes  as  the 
rich  man's  conservatory.  Tenderly  he  carried  the 
wild  flower  to  his  garret,  and  watered  it  daily  with 
loving  hands.  It  seemed  to  him,  as  he  watched  it, 
that  the  poor,  common  weed  had  the  power  to  carry 
him  out  into  the  country.  He  could  almost  beheve 
that  he  was  lying  among  the  soft,  sweet  grass, 
listening  to  the  bird's  song,  or  gathering  great 
bunches  of  primroses,  or  resting  beneath  the  shadow 
of  some  tall  tree.  The  narrow,  ugly  walls  of  his 
garret  seemed  to  open,  and  he  could  look  out,  not 
on  the  hot  dusty  city  street,  but  over  green  hills, 
and  meadows  all  dotted  with  flowers.  But  soon  the 
poor  fleld-flower  withered  and  died  in  the  stifling 
garret,  and  then  the  little  boy  saw  no  more  visions 
of  the  country. 


(TtDO  !lil)c5. 


At  last,  one  day,  the  crippled  child  was  able  to 
walk  very  slowly,  and  with  much  pain,  outside  the 
city  streets,  and  he  came  to  the  gate  of  a  large  and 
beautiful  garden.  He  pressed  his  thin  white  face  to 
the  iron  bars  of  the  gate,  and  knew  that  he  had 
never  seen  anything  half  so  beautiful  before.  There 
were  smooth  lawns  of  soft  grass,  where  fountains 
threw  up  their  spray,  and  bubbled  into  basins  for 
gold  and  silver  fish.  Great  trees  threw  their  pleasant 
shade  over  some  parts  of  the  garden,  and  in  others 
flowers  of  every  colour  filled  the  air  with  sweetness. 
The  little  white-faced  cripple  thought  that  the  garden 
of  Eden,  of  which  he  had  read,  must  have  been  just 
like  this. 

There  was  a  little  boy  playing  in  the  garden, 
plucking  a  flower  to  pieces,  and  scattering  its  petals 
in  the  air.  This  was  the  rich  man's  child  of  whom 
I  told  you,  and  who  knew  nothing  of  the  sorrows  of 
the  poor  cripple  in  the  garret.  Presently  the  servants, 
who  had  noticed  the  white-faced,  ragged  child  at  the 
gate,  went  to  him,  and  told  him  to  go  away.  Then 
the  tears  fell  fast  on  the  orphan  boy's  thin  cheeks, 
he  was  not  to  look  any  more  on  the  one  scene  of 
beauty  he  had  ever  found.  As  he  turned  sadly 
away,  the  little  boy  in  the  garden  caught  sight  of 
his  tearful  looks.     He  thought  how  different  his  lot 


96  Parablr  gfrrmau^  for  CtillJrcn. 

from  mine  !  He  is  poor,  and  crippled,  and  cries  at 
the  sight  of  a  flower.  I  am  rich,  and  strong,  and 
have  as  many  flowers  as  I  want.  So  the  rich  child 
ran  to  a  rose  tree,  his  favourite  plant,  and  plucked 
a  branch  of  sweet,  red  roses,  and  gave  them  to  the 
poor  child  at  the  gate.  When  the  crippled  boy 
got  home,  his  miserable  room  v/as  filled  with  the 
scent  of  the  roses.  And  now  it  seemed  to  the  little 
boy  as  if  those  flowers  had  changed  the  whole  place 
for  him.  He  did  not  notice  that  his  bed  was  hot, 
and  hard,  and  uncomfortable.  He  forgot  that  people 
often  spoke  harshly  to  him,  and  that  no  gentle  hand 
ever  soothed  his  pain.  As  long  as  the  roses  lived 
the  child  seemed  to  be  in  Paradise.  But  one  after 
another  the  flowers  drooped  and  died,  and  when  the 
neighbours  found  the  last  rose  dead,  they  found  the 
little  crippled  child  was  dead  also. 

About  this  time  there  was  great  sorrow  in  the 
house  with  the  beautiful  garden.  The  child  who 
had  played  in  the  garden,  was  very  ill.  He  would 
never  play  there  again.  The  best  doctors  came 
to  see  him ;  all  that  money  could  do  was  done ; 
skilful  nurses  watched  by  the  little  boy's  bed.  But 
in  vain.  One  evening,  when  the  child's  mother 
was  praying  beside  his  bed,  the  little  boy  saw  a 
shadow  fall  across  the  room,  and  a  fair,  and  shining 


^iua  ilibe^.  97 


figure  stood  beside  him,  holding  out  his  arms. 
With  a  httle  cry  of  pleasure,  the  boy  stretched  out 
his  hands.  His  mother  started  from  her  knees,  she 
saw  no  shadow,  but  she  saw  the  child  was  dead. 
And  now  the  shining  visitor  was  bearing  the  little 
boy  in  his  arms,  through  the  calm,  starry  night,  to 
Paradise.  And  as  they  went  upon  their  journey, 
the  Spirit  looked  lovingly  on  the  child,  and  placed 
in  his  hands  a  bunch  of  crimson  roses.  The  boy 
looked  wonderingly  at  the  flowers,  he  seemed  to 
have  seen  them  before,  and  to  know  them  again. 
And  the  Spirit  said  softly  to  the  child,  "They  are 
your  own  roses  which  died,  and  are  living  again. 
Do  you  remember  how  once  a  pale-faced,  crippled 
orphan  stood  weeping  at  your  gate  ?  You  pitied  the 
lonely,  suffering  child,  and  you  gave  him  your 
favourite  flowers  to  comfort  him."  And  the  wonder- 
ing boy  asked,  "  How  do  you  know  these  things  ?  " 
And  the  Spirit  smiled  lovingly  upon  him,  and 
answered,  "  because  I  was  once  that  crippled  child. 
And  God  has  suffered  me  to  carry  you  to  Him, 
before  the  world  has  stained  you  with  its  sin.  Your 
roses,  the  gift  of  love,  died  on  earth,  but  they  live 
again  in  Paradise." 

Learn,  my  children,  from  this  parable,  that  no  act 
of  love  and  kindness  is  too  small  to  be  noticed  by 

G 


98  ^araiiU  ^rrmoniS  for  Ct)iltr«n. 

our  Father  in  Heaven.  Every  time  you  do  a  gentle, 
loving  deed  for  others,  you  are  planting  a  flower  in 
Paradise,  and  you  shall  find  it  blooming,  when  God 
calls  you  home. 


SERMON    XIV. 


THE   MAGIC    MIRROR. 


S.  Matthew  vii.  5. 

"  First  cast  out  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye  ;  and  then  shall 
thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thy  brother's  eye." 

Listen,  my  children,  to  a  parable  which  was  first 
told  to  the  little  children  of  Denmark,  by  one  who 
loved  them  well.  There  was  once  an  evil  spirit,  who 
wished  to  do  as  much  mischief  as  possible.  That 
is  what  all  evil  spirits  desire.  So  he  invented  a 
glass,  or  mirror,  which  had  very  wonderful  power&- 
Everything  good  and  beautiful  looked  mean  and 
ugly  when  seen  in  this  mirror.  The  most  lovely 
scenery  looked  no  better  than  a  ploughed  field,  and 
the  highest  mountain  seemed  like  a  mole-hill  when 


100  Parable  ^crmon^  far  CbiHrreit. 

reflected  in  this  glass.  The  fairest  face  of  man, 
woman,  or  child,  seemed  deformed  and  hideous 
when  you  looked  at  it  in  the  mirror,  and  if  any  one 
had  a  spot,  or  freckle  upon  their  skin,  it  appeared  to 
spread  all  over  their  face.  This  is  what  this  glass 
did,  it  made  everything  right  look  wrong,  and 
everything  wrong  seem  worse.  A  kindly  smile  was 
twisted  by  this  mirror  into  an  ugly  sneer,  a  speck 
of  dust  on  one's  clothing  was  magnified  into  a  mass  of 
dirt.  Well,  the  evil  spirit  was  never  tired  of  playing 
with  this  mischievous  glass,  till  one  day  he  let  it 
fall,  and  it  was  broken  into  millions  of  pieces. 
This  was  not  the  end  of  this  mirror  by  any  means, 
it  did  more  harm  than  ever,  for  all  the  little  broken 
pieces  had  the  same  power  as  the  whole  glass. 
Sometimes  a  tiny  bit  of  the  broken  mirror  flew  into 
someone's  eye,  then  that  person  saw  everything,  and 
everybody  in  a  wrong  way.  The  brightest  day 
seemed  dark,  the  most  beautiful  pictures  appeared 
crooked  and  out  of  drawing,  the  most  delicate  china 
had  a  crack  in  it,  and,  worse  than  all,  the  best  and 
noblest  actions  looked  selfish  and  mean.  Sometimes 
a  piece  of  the  broken  glass  got  into  a  person's  heart, 
and  then  his  heart  became  cold,  and  hard,  and  he 
cared  for  no  one  but  himself.  Some  of  the  glass 
was  made  into  spectacles,  and  the  people  who  used 


Cte  M^Qit  Mirrav*  loi 

them  to  read  with,  never  found  anything  good  in 
their  books  and  newspapers.  If  there  were  any  bad 
things  in  the  books  they  would  see  them  magnified 
very  much  indeed,  but  all  pure  and  noble  words 
looked  dim  and  indistinct  through  the  spectacles. 
Some  of  the  larger  pieces  of  broken  glass  were  put 
into  windows,  and  whoever  looked  through  that 
window  never  saw  the  face  of  a  friend. 

I  have  not  time  to  tell  you  half  the  mischief  which 
the  pieces  of  the  broken  mirror  did.  I  will  tell  you, 
however,  a  few  of  the  troubles  which  they  caused. 
In  one  busy  town  there  were  two  little  children,  a 
boy  and  girl,  who  lived  with  their  grandmother,  and 
loved  each  other  dearly.  They  liked  best  to  play 
in  the  little  garden  of  their  home,  where  each  had  a 
rose  tree,  and  they  would  watch  every  day  for  the  first 
bud  to  open  into  a  lovely  flower.  Sometimes  the 
two  children  would  sit  side  by  side  looking  at  a 
picture  book,  of  which  they  never  seemed  to  grow 
tired.  Sometimes  they  would  listen  to  the  stories 
which  their  grandmother  told  them.  One  day  the 
litde  boy  felt  a  sharp  pain  in  his  heart,  and  at  the 
same  moment  it  seemed  as  though  a  grain  of  sand 
had  flown  into  his  eye.  In  a  moment  the  child  was 
quite  changed.  Two  pieces  of  the  broken  looking- 
glass  had  done  all  the  mischief.      When  he  looked 


102  ^araBIe  ^tvmani  tax  CbtUrrcii. 

at  the  rose  trees  it  seemed  as  if  the  flowers  were 
blighted  and  worm-eaten,  and  he  pulled  up  the  plants 
by  the  roots,  whilst  the  little  girl  cried  bitterly. 
The  boy  was  rough  and  rude  to  her,  for  his  heart  had 
grown  cold  and  hard.  The  tiny  speck  of  glass  in 
his  eye  made  his  sister  appear  ugly  and  cross. 
When  she  brought  the  picture  book,  he  said  the 
pictures  were  hideous,  and  threw  it  on  one  side. 
When  his  grandmother  told  her  stories  he  laughed 
at  them,  and  said  they  were  only  fit  for  babies.  If 
other  children  asked  him  to  play  with  them  he  was 
sure  to  fmd  fault,  and  quarrel,  and  accuse  the  others 
of  cheating  ;  in  fact,  the  boy  was  quite  changed,  and 
no  one  knew  the  reason.  It  was  because  he  had  the 
piece  of  glass  in  his  heart  and  in  his  eye. 

In  another  place  there  lived  two  little  girls,  who 
had  always  been  the  best  of  friends.  One  day 
one  of  these  children  came  running  to  see  her 
friend,  and  to  show  her  the  birthday  presents  which 
she  had  received.  Just  as  the  little  girl  was  open- 
ing her  box  of  treasures,  the  other  child  felt  some- 
thing sharp  in  her  eye,  but  the  minute  after  she  felt 
nothing.  The  piece  of  glass  was  there,  however. 
And  now  she  could  see  nothing  to  admire  in  her 
friend's  presents.  She  declared  that  the  pretty 
dress  was  of  very  common  stuff,  and  the  trimming 


CI)c  M^Qit  Mirror,  103 

sewn  on  crooked.  She  sneered  at  the  little  golden 
locket,  and  said  it  could  not  be  real  gold.  And  the 
doll,  the  great  treasure  of  all,  did  not  satisfy  her, 
she  said  it  was  stuffed  with  sawdust,  and  had  not 
real  hair.  So  the  little  girl's  birthday  was  spoilt, 
and  she  was  never  good  friends  with  her  companion 
any  more.  See  what  mischief  a  little  speck  of  glass 
can  do  ! 

There  were  two  boys  living  in  a  country  village. 
Every  Sunday  they  used  to  go  to  Church,  and  take 
part  in  the  Children's  Service.  One  Sunday  the 
elder  boy  felt  a  sharp  pain  in  his  heart,  and  some- 
thing flew  into  his  eye.  You  know,  my  children, 
what  had  happened.  So,  instead  of  hastening  on  to 
Church,  he  proposed  that  they  should  go  for  a  walk 
instead.  His  companion,  however,  refused,  and  got 
into  Church  just  as  the  school  children  were  taking 
their  places.  Well,  the  other  boy  looked  at  the 
Church,  and  thought  to  himself — what  a  dull,  gloomy 
place  it  is  !  It  is  much  pleasanter  out  here.  Only 
the  Sunday  before  the  boy  had  loved  his  Church, 
and  had  been  one  of  the  best  singers  among  the 
children.  But  this  piece  of  fatal  glass  had  got  into 
his  heart,  and  into  his  eye.  So  on  this  Sunday  he 
went  skulking  about  the  fields,  till  he  could  no 
longer  hear  the  sound   of  the  organ  playing  at  the 


104  ^arafile  ^timani  for  CbilQrcu. 

Children's  Service.  And  by  and  by  he  came  to  a 
farmer's  orchard,  and  thought  to  himself— how  ripe 
and  good  those  apples  look,  I  never  thought  them 
so  tempting  before.  He  had  often  seen  this  very 
orchard,  but  he  did  not  covet  another's  goods  till 
this  piece  of  glass  got  into  his  eye.  Well,  it  ended 
in  the  boy  being  caught  in  the  act"of  stealing  fruit, 
and  he  was  severely  punished,  and  lost  his  character. 
He  went  on  from  bad  to  worse,  whenever  he  looked 
at  another's  property  he  wanted  it,  that  was  be- 
cause of  the  piece  of  glass  in  his  eye.  At  last  he 
stole  some  money  from  a  house,  and  was  sent  away 
to  prison  and  disgrace. 

Now,  my  children,  I  will  not  stay  to  tell  you  any 
more  of  the  mischief  which  the  evil  glass  did.  You 
can  easily  understand  what  this  parable  teaches. 
The  devil  puts  bad  thoughts  into  our  minds  if  we 
don't  guard  against  them,  and  then  our  hearts 
become  hard,  and  cold,  and  selfish,  and  we  look  at 
everything  in  a  wrong  way.  Sometimes  Satan  sends 
a  little  bit  of  conceit  into  our^heart  and  into  our  eye. 
What  happens  then?  Why,  we  look  at  ourselves 
and  think  how  good  we  are,  and  how  clever,  and 
how  handsome.  And  we  look  at  other  people,  and 
think  what 'poor,  common,  disagreeable  creatures 
they  are  compared  with  us.     My  children,  whenever 


Cbe  M^Qic  Mirror.  105 

you  begin  to  fancy  that  you  are  better  than  other 
people,  take  care,  examine  yourselves,  for  there  is  a 
little  bit  of  the  Evil  Spirit's  glass  in  your  heart  and 
in  your  eye.  Sometimes  Satan  sends  a  grain  of 
discoiitetit  into  your  heart  and  eyes.  Then  everything 
looks  wrong.  The  weather  is  not  right,  the  school- 
lessons  are  too  hard,  the  teachers  are  unkind,  your 
schoolmates  are  disagreeable.  And  yet  the  weather, 
and  the  lessons,  and  the  teachers,  and  the  scholars 
are  the  same  as  ever.  It  is  you  who  are  wrong. 
When  you  are  tempted  to  be  cross,  or  to  fmd  fault, 
or  to  grumble,  remember  this  parable,  and  ask  God 
to  give  you  a  clean  heart  and  a  right  spirit,  for 
Jesus  Christ's  sake. 


SERMON    XV. 


THE   CITY   OF  THE   GREAT  KING. 


Psalm  xlviii.  2. 
"The  City  of  the  Great  King.'' 

A  LITTLE  boy  once  lived  in  a  deep  valley  surrounded 
by  lofty  mountains.  The  valley  lay  so  low  that  it 
was  always  covered  with  fog  and  mist,  which  made 
its  roads  very  wet  and  dirty.  Most  of  the  people 
who  lived  there  were  quite  contented  with  their 
home,  and  had  no  wish  to  go  anywhere  else,  or 
rise  above  the  mists  and  fog.  It  was  not  so  with 
the  little  boy.  He  longed  to  get  out  of  the  dark, 
thick  atmosphere,  and  the  wet,  muddy  roads  of  the 
valley.     He  would  often  ask  his  neighbours  what 


Cljc  €itv  ai  ti)P  ®rcat  llinff.  107 

place  there  was  beyond  the  high  mountains  above 
them.  Some  people  said  that  they  did  not  know, 
nor  care,  the  valley  was  good  enough  for  them. 
Others  told  him  that  beyond  the  highest  mountain 
was  the  City  of  the  Great  King,  which  stood  in 
perfect  beauty  far  above  the  mists  and  darkness  of 
the  valley.  Then  the  little  boy  looked  longingly 
at  the  great  mountains  w^hich  rose  up  into  the  air, 
and  thought  to  himself,  "Oh!  ihat  I  could  climb 
up  above  the  fog  and  darkness,  and  breathe  the 
fresh  mountain  air,  and  see  the  City  of  the  Great 
King."  His  neighbours  only  laughed  at  him,  and 
told  him  that  he  was  far  too  small  and  weak  to 
climb  the  steep  mountains,  or  to  fmd  his  way  to 
the  beautiful  city.  One  night  the  child  went  to 
sleep  with  his  thoughts  full  of  the  City  of  the  Great 
King.  In  his  sleep  he  thought  a  bright  and  shining 
figure  stood  beside  him,  which  smiled  lovingly  on 
him,  and  asked  him  what  he  desired  most.  And 
the  wondering  child  answered  that  he  wished  to 
climb  up  above  the  mists  of  the  valley,  and  see  the 
City  of  the  Great  King.  And  the  shining  visitor 
again  smiled  lovingly  upon  the  child,  and  told  him 
that  it  was  a  good  wish.  But  he  warned  him  that 
the  way  was  long,  and  steep,  and  difficult,  and  that 
there  were  many  dangers  in  the  road ;  but  if  the 


108  paraljle  ^tvman^  far  CbiRfren. 

child  would  bravely  climb  on  to  the  end,  the  stranger 
promised  that  he  should  enter  through  the  gates 
into  the  city,  and  see  the  King  in  His  beauty.  Then 
said  the  angel,  "  The  Great  King  knows  you  already, 
and  has  held  you  in  His  arms."  The  little  boy 
wondered  greatly  how  the  King  could  know  a  little 
child  like  him,  or  when  He  could  have  held  him  in 
His  arms.  Then  the  angel  told  the  child  that  when 
he  was  a  little  infant,  he  had  been  brought  to  one 
of  the  palaces  of  the  Great  King,  who  had  received 
him  there,  and  set  a  mark  upon  his  forehead,  and 
that  the  King  knew  His  people  wherever  they  were, 
because  they  bore  about  in  their  bodies  His  mark. 
All  this  was  very  wonderful  to  the  little  boy,  and  he 
longed  to  begin  his  journey,  and  to  climb  the  high 
mountain.  The  angel  promised  to  go  with  him,  and 
to  help  him  in  time  of  need. 

Well,  the  child  went  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
which  rose  up  high  into  the  air,  and  its  top  quite 
hidden  from  sight.  At  first  the  little  boy  could  see 
no  path  up  the  mountain  side ;  but,  presently,  when 
he  went  down  on  his  knees,  he  was  able  to  see  the 
way,  which  was  very  narrow.  The  child  had  brought 
with  him  many  things  which  he  loved  well,  clothes, 
and  toys,  and  presents  from  his  neighbours.  But 
he  found  that  their  weight  dragged  him  back,  and 


Clje  Citn  of  tijc  ®reat  Stmfl.  109 

that  he  kept  slipping  from  the  mountain  path  into 
the  misty  valley.  So  he  said,  "  I  cannot  go  with 
these,"  and  he  cast  away  the  weight,  and  began  to 
cHmb  once  more.  Then  it  seemed  to  the  child 
that  he  could  hear  the  voice  of  the  angel  at  his  side, 
although  he  could  not  see  his  shining  form,  and  the 
voice  said  to  him,  "  Go  up  higher,  be  humble,  be 
brave,  be  faithful,  look  up,  and  look  not  back,  and 
He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  concerning  thee." 
So  the  child  climbed  on.  He  was  often  tempted  to 
look  back  at  the  misty  valley,  and  the  houses  of  his 
neighbours,  but  he  remembered  the  angel's  warning 
— look  lip,  and  look  noi  back,  and  lifted  his  eyes 
towards  the  top  of  the  mountain  above  him. 

There  were  many  difficulties  in  the  child's  way, 
and  the  path  was  very  steep  and  stony.  At  times 
the  road  was  hard  to  find,  and  the  child  thought  he 
had  missed  it  altogether.  Then  he  noticed  that 
there  were  foot-prints  in  the  way,  as  though  some 
one  had  travelled  over  that  same  road  before  him. 
The  foot-marks  seemed  to  be  those  of  some  one  who 
had  suffered  pain,  for  they  were  stained  with  blood. 
Wondering  more  and  more,  the  child  climbed  on, 
and  found  that  if  he  placed  his  feet  in  the  marks  of 
those  other  feet,  the  journey  became  easier.  At 
length  he  reached  a  gate  which  stood  in  the  path, 


110  Parable  ^tvman^  far  €l)iXtirm. 

and  as  the  child  knelt  humbly  before  it,  waiting  till 
it  should  be  opened  to  him,  suddenly  he  saw  One 
standing  there,  who  looked  lovingly  upon  him,  and 
laid  His  hands  upon  his  head,  and  whispered,  "  My 
strength  is  sufficient  for  thee,  go  up  higher." 

And  the  kneeling  child  saw  that  the  Hands  whicli 
were  laid  upon  his  head  had  wounds  in  them,  and 
that  His  Feet  were  pierced,  and  stained  with  blood, 
then  he  understood  whose  were  the  foot-prints 
which  he  had  followed.  So  the  child  passed  through 
the  gate,  and  climbed  on,  higher  and  higher.  Often 
and  often  he  could  see  the  form  of  Him  of  the 
pierced  Hands  and  Feet,  showing  him  the  way,  and 
when  the  road  was  more  than  ever  difficult,  those 
wounded  Hands  were  stretched  out  to  help  the 
child.  Sometimes  the  child  was  very  weary  and 
faint,  then  He  of  the  pierced  Hands  would  come  to 
him,  and  give  him  wonderful  food,  such  as  he  had 
never  seen  in  the  lowly  valley. 

Sometimes  the  child  would  despair,  thinking  that 
he  should  never  reach  the  City  of  the  Great  King. 
Once  he  found  himself  in  a  dark,  thick  wood,  where 
it  was  very  difficult  to  see  the  path.  The  heart  of 
the  child  was  very  heavy,  and  he  was  half  inclined 
to  turn  back.  The  branches  of  the  trees  caught 
hold  of  him,  and  held  him  back;  long,  clinging 


n^  ^itu  of  i'b^  ^vtut  WiiwQ.  Ill 

weeds  seized  his  legs  and  feet,  and  almost  overthrew 
him.  Loathsome  serpents  crawled  and  hissed 
about  him,  and  tried  to  drive  him  from  the  path. 
Still  the  child  struggled  on,  higher  and  higher.  One 
day  he  saw  some  flowers  and  fruit,  very  fair  to  look 
on,  growing  a  little  way  from  the  path.  And  the 
child  thought — how  I  should  like  to  taste  that 
sweet  fruit,  and  to  twist  those  fair  flowers  into  gar- 
lands. He  forgot  the  angel's  charge — /ook  up,  and 
turn  not  back,  and  he  turned  from  the  path,  to  seek 
the  fruit  and  flowers.  But  when  he  had  eaten  of 
the  fruits,  and  crowned  his  head  with  blossoms,  the 
child  felt  sick  and  sorrowful.  His  eyes  were  dimmed, 
and  his  brain  confused,  and  he  could  not  find  the 
path,  nor  see  the  foot-prints.  He  wandered  about 
sadly,  and  found  that  he  was  going  down  the  moun- 
tain, instead  of  upwards.  At  last  he  came  to  a 
gate,  which  stopped  his  way.  Weeping  bitterly, 
the  child  knelt,  bewailing  his  folly,  while  the 
withered  flowers  fell  neglected  from  his  brow.  Pre- 
sently the  gate  was  opened  and  the  weeping  child 
saw  that  the  Hand  which  held  it  was  marked  with 
wounds,  which  seemed  to  bleed  afresh.  So  the 
child  passed  through  the  gate,  and  once  more  found 
the  right  path.  And  now  he  looked  neither  to  the 
right  hand,   nor  to   the  left,   but  went  straight  for- 


112  Paraile  ^ijcrmons  far  Cbiltrren. 

ward,  higher,  higher  still.  And  soon  from  the 
mountain  top  there  shone  a  bright  and  glorious 
light,  which  made  the  child's  path  clear  as  noonday. 
And  the  child  rejoiced,  for  he  knew  that  he  must 
be  coming  near  to  the  City  of  the  Great  King. 

At  length  he  drew  near  to  another  gate,  which 
barred  his  way,  and  he  was  very  weary  with  his 
journey.  So  the  child  lay  down  to  rest  beside  this 
gate,  and  presently  fell  asleep.  And  as  he  slept,  it 
seemed  to  him  that  the  angel,  who  had  appeared 
to  him  in  the  valley,  once  more  stood  beside  him, 
and  led  him  tenderly  through  the  open  door. 
And  the  child,  scarce  knowing  whether  he  dreamed 
or  no,  found  himself  standing  in  a  wondrous  fair 
and  stately  city,  whose  light  was  as  that  of  a  stone 
most  precious.  He  could  see  gardens  bright  with 
flowers,  such  as  he  had  never  seen  in  the  misty 
valley,  and  could  hear  the  music  of  many  voices, 
which  came  to  him  "  like  the  sound  of  a  great 
AmenP  The  streets  were  full  of  people,  and  there 
came  many  children  there  among  the  rest.  And 
although  the  child  had  expected  to  feel  lonely  and 
strange,  yet  the  people  looked  upon  him  with 
smiling  faces,  and  there  were  among  them  some 
whom  he  recognised  as  old  friends.  After  a  while, 
the  angel  led  him  to  One  who  stood  waiting   to 


Clje  Ctt^  0f  tlje  <Sreat  Hmff.  113 

receive  him,  One  clothed  in  a  wondrous,  shining 
garment,  and  having  a  crown  upon  His  Head.  The 
child  approached  timidly,  not  knowing  what  to  do. 
And  He  who  wore  the  crown,  stretched  forth  His 
Hands  to  the  child,  and  he  saw  that  the  Hands  bore 
the  marks  of  wounds.  Then  the  child  knew  Him 
who  had  been  his  Guide,  and  he  fell  at  His  feet, 
and  worshipped.  And  then  he  heard  a  voice 
speaking  to  him  with  exceeding  sweetness  and  love, 
and  saying  to  him,  "  Come  unto  Me  you  who 
labour,  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest."  And  there  came  upon  the  child  a  feeling 
of  perfect  rest  and  peace,  the  peace  of  God  which 
passeth  all  understanding. 

I  think,  my  children,  you  can  easily  understand 
the  meaning  of  this  parable.  The  City  of  the  Great 
King  is  Heaven,  and  we  all  have  to  take  our 
journey  upwards,  because  "  here  we  have  no  con- 
tinuing city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come."  Here  we 
are  "  strangers  and  pilgrims."  We  must  not  be 
content  to  live  a  selfish  life,  or  an  idle  life,  or  a  life 
made  up  of  eating  and  drinking  and  playing.  Such 
a  life  is  all  amongst  the  fogs  and  mists  of  the  low 
valley.  The  little  boy,  of  whom  I  told  you,  was 
bidden  to  go  up  higher.  So  are  we  all.  We  are 
told  to   "  seek  those  things  that  are  above,  to  set 

H 


114  Parafilc  ^ermniuS  for  Cfttllrren. 


our  affection  on  things  in  Heaven,  not  on  things  in 
the  earth."  You  need  not  go  out  of  the  world  to 
do  this,  you  must  hve  in  the  world,  but  above  its 
sins  and  follies.  That  is  what  I  meant  by  climbing 
the  mountain,  above  the  mists  of  the  valley.  Every 
one  of  us  is  going  up  or  down,  growing  better  or 
worse.  If  you  want  to  see  the  City  of  the  Great 
King,  you  must  climb,  and  God  will  send  His  holy 
angel  to  help  you  on  the  journey. 

The  child  could  only  find  the  path  when  he  went 
on  his  knees.  That  teaches  us  that  we  must  pray 
that  God  may  show  us  the  right  road  to  Heaven,  and 
that  road  is  the  narrow  way  of  holiness^  because 
"  strait  is  the  gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way,  which 
leadeth  unto  life."  You  know  who  trod  that  path 
before  you,  children  ?  Jesus  Christ,  "  leaving  us  an 
example,  that  we  should  follow  in  His  steps."  The 
Great  King  first  took  you  in  His  arms,  and  set  His 
mark  upon  you,  the  sign  of  the  Cross,  in  your 
Baptism.  Then  you  will  come,  as  the  child  did  in 
the  parable,  to  a  gate,  which  Jesus  will  open  for 
you,  the  gate  of  Holy  Confirmation.  You  will 
find,  too,  as  the  child  found,  that  you  must  not 
overload  yourselves  with  worldly  goods  if  you  want 
to  climb.  I  don't  mean  that  you  are  not  to  have 
any  toys,  or  games,  or  pleasures,  but  I  do  mean  that 


€})e  Cttj)  of  t!)e  (Sreat  ^inz^  115 

you  must  not  think  too  much  of  them,  you  must 
set  God  first,  "  Seek  ye  Jirsf  the  Kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness."  Do  you  remember  the 
charge  which  the  angel  gave  to  the  child  ?  "  Look 
up,  and  look  not  back."  Yes,  and  our  Saviour 
gives  us  all  the  same  charge,  "  No  man  having  put 
his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  looking  back,  is  fit  for 
the  Kingdom  of  God."  After  the  child  had  passed 
through  the  gate  of  Confirmation,  He  who  went 
before  him,  with  pierced  Hands  and  Feet,  fed  him 
with  wonderful  food.  You,  my  children,  know 
what  that  Food  is,  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Jesus  in 
the  Blessed  Sacrament, whereby  we  are  strengthened 
for  the  journey  from  earth  to  Heaven.  Once,  you 
remember,  the  child  found  himself  in  a  dark  wood, 
where  the  trees  and  weeds  clung  to  him.  We  all 
have  to  pass  such  a  dark  place,  and  to  meet  with 
things  which  hinder  us  on  our  journey,  and  these 
things  are  the  temptations  of  the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil.  Once  the  child  strayed  from  the 
path,  and  lost  it,  because  he  longed  for  the  flowers 
and  fruit  growing  near  him.  My  children,  there 
are  many  such  flowers  and  fruits  in  the  world,  to 
tempt  you  from  the  right  path.  Things  which  seem 
very  pleasant  to  you,  but  which  are  not  rig-^f.  Bad 
company,  bad  talk,  bad  books,  bad  places  of  amuse- 


116  ^araHe  ^crmoniS  for  CbtRfrcii. 


ment,  these  will  all  come  in  your  way  as  you  grow 
older ;  but  remember  if  you  choose  them,  you  lose 
the  path  to  Heaven.  Can  you  tell  me  what  that 
gate  was  through  which  the  child  passed,  after  he 
had  bitterly  sorrowed  for  his  sin  ?  That  gate  was 
repentance,  since  "  if  we  confess  our  sins.  He  is 
faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to 
cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness." 

The  last  gate  through  w^hich  the  child  passed  was 
the  gate  of  death,  which  lies  before  us  all.  God 
grant,  my  children,  that  we  may  all  so  try  to  walk 
in  the  right  way,  that  when  death  comes,  it  may  be 
only  like  a  sleep  after  a  long  journey,  and  that  the 
Holy  Angels  may  bear  us  to  the  City  of  the  Great 
King,  and  to  the  presence  of  that  dear  Saviour  who 
was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  who  rose  again 
for  our  justification,  and  who  has  gone  up  on  high 
to  prepare  a  place  for  us. 


SERMON    XVI. 


THE     LIVING     BOOK. 


I  Samuel  hi.  9. 
'•Speak,  Lord,  for  Thy  servant  heareth." 

There  is  an  old  fairy  story,  which  some  of  you,  my 
children,  may  remember.  It  tells  us  of  one  who 
possessed  a  magic  ring,  which  enabled  him  to  under- 
stand the  language  of  birds  and  beasts.  Now  I 
have  often  wished  for  such  a  ring.  I  should  dearly 
like  to  understand  what  the  birds  in  the  hedges  are 
saying  to  one  another.  I  am  quite  sure  that  birds 
do  talk  to  each  other,  and  that  dogs,  and  cows,  and 
horses,  and  all  animals,  have  their  secrets,  which 
they  whisper  mto  each   other's  ears. 


118  Parable  ^tvmani  far  €'^iHJvtn, 

Well,  I  am  going  to  tell  you  about  a  child  who 
fancied  he  could  understand  the  language  of  the  birds 
and  beasts  about  him.  He  was  not  strong  and 
healthy  enough  to  play  with  other  children,  so  he  was 
much  alone,  and  that  made  him  very  thoughtful.  He 
was  never  tired  of  studying  nature,  and  learning  about 
flowers,  and  trees,  and  animals  ;  and  from  being  so 
much  with  them,  and  so  seldom  with  any  other  com- 
pany, the  child  learned  to  find  "  Tongues  in  trees, 
books  in  the  running  brooks,  sermons  in  stones,  and 
good  in  everything."  The  child  had  read  how  the  good 
Saint  Francis  used  to  call  the  birds  and  beasts  his 
brethren,  how  he  called  the  lark  his  sister ;  and  how, 
when  he  was  dying,  the  Saint  whispered — "  Wel- 
come, sister  death."  The  child  thought  all  this  very 
beautiful,  as  indeed  it  is  ;  and  he  loved  to  find  his 
brethren  and  playmates  in  God's  world  of  nature. 
The  child  would  think  to  himself — "  I  am  too  weakly 
to  play  and  run  with  other  children,  and  they  do 
not  care  for  my  talk.  But  the  skylark  can  tell  me 
what  the  world  looks  like  from  the  blue  sky,  and  the 
bees,  as  they  go  humming  by,  bring  me  sweet  mes- 
sages from  the  woods  and  meadows.  I  soon  grow 
tired  of  hearing  people  talk,  it  makes  my  head  ache. 
But  I  am  never  weary  of  the  river,  that  tells  me 
such  wonderful  stories  !"     Now,   most  people  only 


Ebe  Hitjiiifl  380olJ.  119 


heard  the  stream  murmuring   among  the  reeds,  or 
rushing  over  the  stones ;  but  to  the  child  the  river 
spoke  a  language  which  he  could  understand.     It 
told  him  how  it  was  born  in  a  little  spring,  far  away 
among  the  hills,  and  how  at  first  it  was  only  a  baby 
of  a  stream,   and  how  it  grew  bigger  and  stronger, 
and  carried  ships  and  men  far  out  to  the  wide  sea. 
Sometimes  the  child  was  taken  to  the  sea-side,  and 
there  indeed  he  had   friends  to  talk  with.      The 
winds  and  the  waves  brought  all  kinds  of  messages. 
Sometimes  the  wind  seemed  to  tell  him  that  it  had 
come  from  Africa,  and  had  been  blowing  over  wide 
deserts  of  yellow  sand,  and  dark,  hot  jungle.   Some- 
times a  fresh,  cool  wind  would  come  blowing  across 
the  sea,  which  seemed  to  bring  the  child  a  message 
from   the  North,   and  he  could  see  in  fancy,  snow- 
crowned  mountains,  and  dark  pine-woods,  and  lakes 
of  glittering  ice.    If  he  put  a  sea-shell  to  his  ear,  the 
child  would  say  that  the  shell  was  telling  the  secrets 
of  the  sea,   and  reminding  him  of  Columbus,  and 
Drake,  and  Raleigh,  and  many  another  good  sea- 
king  of  olden  time.     And  the  child  would  often  say 
that  God  had  been  talking  to  him.     And  when  his 
friends  asked  him  how  this  was  possible,  the  child 
would  answer  that  God  spoke  to  him  by  His  Works. 
The  wind  roaring  in  the  Autumn  made  the  child 


120  ^araile  ^trmani  tar  €\iiirsrtiu 


remember  "how  God  doth  send  forth  His  voice,  yea, 
and  that  a  mighty  voice  ;  the  voice  of  the  Lord 
shaketh  the  wilderness  of  Cades."  When  the  Au- 
tumn leaves  fell  thick  around  him,  the  child  seemed 
to  hear  the  voice  of  God  whisperin^^ — "  We  all  do 
fade  as  a  leaf.  We  fade  away  suddenly  like  the 
grass  :  in  the  morning  it  is  green,  and  groweth  up, 
but  in  the  evening  it  is  cut  down,  dried  up,  and 
withered."  When  the  buds  peeped  out  in  valley 
and  hedgerow  in  the  spring  time,  the  child  seemed 
to  hear  God's  voice  on  every  side,  saying,  "  I  am 
the  Resurrection  and  the  Life  ;  He  that  sitteth  upon 
the  throne  maketh  all  things  new."  So  it  seemed 
that  God  spoke  to  the  little  boy.  In  the  child's 
home  there  was  a  great  library  of  books,  and  when 
he  could  not  go  out,  he  spent  his  time  in  reading. 
It  seemed  to  him  that  the  people  in  his  favourite 
books  were  all  living,  and  that  they  spoke  to  him. 
All  the  characters  in  the  dear  old  fairy  tales,  and 
children's  stories,  were  real  living  companions  to  the 
lonely  child.  They  could  take  him  away  from  the 
room  where  he  sat,  and  make  him  forget  his  weak 
health,  and  his  solitary  life.  One  day,  he  was  away 
in  a  lonely,  tropical  island,  with  Robinson  Crusoe, 
or  Sindbad  the  Sailor,  amongst  brilliant  birds,  and 
glorious  fruits  and  flowers.     He  could  fly  away  in  a 


€\)e  Etbtng  Soalt.  121 


minute  to  China,  and  see  Aladdin's  palace,  and  the 
wonderful  lamp.  So,  too,  all  the  persons  in  history- 
seemed  alive  to  the  child,  and  appeared  to  walk 
out  of  the  pages  of  the  book,  as  it  were.  When  he 
read  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  he  did  not  think  of 
it  as  having  happened  eight  hundred  years  ago,  but 
only  yesterday.  The  child  fancied  he  could  hear 
the  tramp  of  feet  as  the  Normans  rushed  up  the 
hill  at  Hastings,  and  the  whistling  of  the  arrows,  and 
and  the  clash  of  the  battle-axes  round  King  Harold, 
and  the  standard. 

But  there  was  one  book  which  the  child  loved 
best,  and  which  he  always  called  his  living  Book. 
That  book  was  the  Bible,  and  he  was  never  tired  of 
reading  it.  "  They  are  all  alive  to  me,"  he  would 
say  of  the  Scripture  characters.  ''  lean  see  them, 
and  hear  them  talk,  and  then  God  speaks  to  me 
as  He  did  to  the  child  Samuel,  and  I  answer,  "  Speak, 
Lord,  for  Thy  servant  heareth."  •  It  seemed  to 
the  child  as  if  he  knew  Samuel  as  a  boy  of 
his  own  age,  and  as  though  they  walked  together 
in  the  house  of  the  Lord  as  friends.  He  had 
cried  over  the  death  of  the  Shunammite's  son,  and 
rejoiced  at  his  return  to  life,  just  as  if  these  two 
children  had  known  each  other,  and  played  together 
in  the  corn  fields.     But  there  was  One  Child  whom 


122  Parable  ^'ermoiiiS  for  CI)tnfrcu. 

the  little  boy  loved  to  think  of.  and  to  look  at  oftener 
than  any  other.  When  he  read  of  Him,  there  seem- 
ed to  rise  before  him  a  little  town  among  the  hills ;  a 
fair  place,  where  the  red  cactus  and  many  another 
flower  grew  wild.  Among  the  children  in  the  bright 
Easter  dresses,  who  played  among  the  hills,  or  rested 
by  the  fountains,  there  was  One  whose  face  seemed 
more  beautiful  than  the  others,  who,  though  He 
played  with  the  children,  was  often  grave  and 
thoughtful.  The  little  boy  loved  to  follow  every 
step  of  that  Holy  Child,  through  all  the  wondrous, 
beautiful  story.  He  would  picture  the  gentle,  patient, 
loving  life  of  the  Child  Jesus,  and  then  pray  that  he 
might  be  gentle,  and  patient,  and  loving  too.  He 
tried  to  do  as  a  famous  Saint  advises  us,  "  to  be 
little  with  the  Ltttle  One,  that  we  may  increase  in 
stature  with  Him,"  by  setting  before  him  the  ex- 
ample of  that  Perfect  Child  who  "increased  in 
stature,  and  in  favour  with  God  and  man  ; "  as  pure 
and  stainless  "  as  the  flower  of  roses  in  the  spring 
of  the  year,  and  as  lilies  by  the  waters." 

So  it  was  that  the  Bible  was  to  the  child  a  living 
book.  He  could  see  the  workshop  at  Nazareth,  and 
the  Boy  Jesus  helping  Joseph  at  his  bench.  He  could 
see  the  gentle  mother  watching  her  Son  with  thought- 
ful eyes,  and  wondering  how  the  words  of  the  prophets 


Ct?  ^tbtiig  iSaolt.  123 

should  be  fulfilled.  He  could  see  the  Holy  Child 
going  for  the  first  time  to  Jerusalem,  along  the  road 
edged  by  fields  of  dazzling  green,  and  spangled  with 
a  thousand  flowers.  He  could  see  the  spacious 
halls  of  the  Temple,  and  watch  the  Child  Jesus 
standing  among  the  doctors. 

As  each  holy  season  of  the  Church's  year  came 
round,  it  seemed  to  the  little  boy  that  what  had 
happened  so  long  ago  was  actually  taking  place. 
When  he  went  to  Church  on  Christmas  1  )ay,  he 
fancied  himself  in  the  rocky  stable  among  the 
Bethlehem  hills.  When  the  bells  pealed  out  in  the 
quiet  winter  air,  the  child  could  hear  the  angels' 
song,  "  Peace  on  earth,  good  will  towards  men." 
At  Epiphany,  the  little  boy  would  look  up  at  the 
sky,  and  among  the  stars  he  would  find  one  which 
appeared  to  him  the  very  same  which  had  guided 
the  wise  men  with  their  gifts.  Lent  would  carry  the 
child's  thoughts  into  the  wilderness,  and  he  actually 
seemed  to  look  on  the  Lord  kneeling  in  that  lonely 
place,  faint  with  long  fasting,  and  bowed  with 
many  sorrows.  Day  by  day  in  Holy  Week  the 
child  would  follow  Jesus,  step  by  step.  He  could 
see  the  dark  olive  trees  shading  the  sad  Garden  of 
Gethsemane  He  could  look  on  the  disciples  sleep- 
ing, whilst  the  Lord  knelt  in  agony.    He  could  hear 


124  ^araile  5>ermani{  for  CbiCirren. 


the  voices  of  the  crowd  of  armed  men,  as  they  broke 
into  the  garden,  and  see  the  glare  of  the  torches, 
and  the  flashing  sword  of  S.  Peter.  It  appeared 
to  the  child  that  when  Jesus  was  led  away,  he  fol- 
lowed, and  shrank  back  from  the  pale,  trembling 
traitor,  Judas.  The  angry  voices  in  Pilate's  hall 
sounded  distinctly  in  his  ears,  and  that  savage  cry 
"Crucify  Him,  crucify  Him."  On  Good  Friday, 
the  child  fancied  himself  at  Calvary.  He  would 
shudder  at  the  brutal  talk  of  the  soldiers,  as  they 
gambled  for  the  seamless  robe  beneath  the  Cross. 
The  crowds  of  strangers  thronging  Jerusalem,  the 
awful  darkness  and  stillness  at  Calvary,  the  bitter 
cry  of  Jesus  from  the  Cross,  all  these  things  were  to 
the  child  quite  real  and  present.  Then  the  sweet 
Eastertide  would  come,  and  the  child  would  think — 
I  must  go  to  the  Garden,  and  look  at  the  Sepulchre. 
And  he  would  fancy,  as  he  knelt  among  the  flowers 
in  Church,  that  he  was  really  among  the  liHes  in 
Joseph's  garden,  and  that  Jesus  was  standing  by  the 
empty  tomb,  speaking  to  Mary  Magdalene.  Ascen- 
sion day  showed  the  child  the  same  Jesus,  going  up 
to  His  Heavenly  Home,  and  stretching  out  His 
Hands  to  bless,  and  on  Whit-Sunday  he  could  hear 
the  sound  of  the  mighty  rushing  wind,  as  the  Holy 
Spirit  came  down  upon  the  place. 


€})t  ilibmg  33a0it.  125 

So  the  child  lived  with  the  people  of  whom  he 
read.  If  he  felt  weary,  he  could  go  to  Bethany, 
and  rest  with  Martha  and  Mary,  and  see  Jesus 
there.  If  he  were  weak  and  ailing,  and  laid  upon 
his  bed,  Jesus  seemed  to  stand  by  his  side,  as  He 
stood  by  the  side  of  Jairus"  little  daughter.  If  he 
were  sad  and  unhappy,  he  could  go  to  Gethsemane, 
and  weep  with  Jesus.  So  it  was  that  the  child 
found  comfort  in  his  Bible,  he  could  say — it  is  a 
living  Book,  Jesus  is  alive  to  me  ! 


The  End. 


;8vo,  cloth,  i/6  ;  Paper  Covers,  i/-(20  per  cent,  discount  on  a  quantity 
for  Choirs.)    The  Words  separately,  id.,  or  7s  per  100,  net, 

CHURCH    SONGS. 

By    the    Rev.    S.    BAR'NG-GOULD    and    the 
Rev.  H.   FLEETWOOD   SHEPPARD. 

Messrs.  Skeffington  are  glad  to  be  able  to  announce  the 
publication  of  this  work,  which  has  been  a  long  time  in  preparation. 
They  trust  it  will  meet  a  want  at  present  much  felt  in  the  Church  of 
England. 

It  consists  of  a  Series  of  Hymns  and  Songs  with  music,  which  are 
intended  to  be  to  the  Church  of  England  what  the  songs  of  the 
Salvation  Army  and  Messrs.  Moody  and  Sankey  are  to  their  res- 
pective adherents,  combining,  it  is  hoped,  their  popularity  and 
tunefulness  without  any  trace  of  \ailgarity  or  irreverence. 

The  Songs  are  speciallv  intended  for  HOME  MISSION  and 
SPECIAL  SERVICES,  whether  in  Church,  Mission-room,  or 
Open-Air  Meeting  ;  there  are  some  specially  adapted  for  Processions, 
Services  of  Praise,  Working  Men,  Children  and  large  mixed 
congregations  ;  the  larger  proportion  are  to  be  sung  entirely  by  the 
choir  and  people  combined,  while  some  have  hearty  refrains  to  be 
joined  in  by  the  congregation  in  chorus  ;  and  a  few  may  be  sung  by 
the  choir  alone,  as  are  Carols,  &c.  They  are  specially  adapted  for 
singing  after  the  Sunday  Evening  Service. 


BY  THE  REV.  H.  J.  WILMOT  BUXTON,  M.A. 

Author  of  "  Mission  Sermons,^'  *'  The  Life  Worth  Living,'^ 
"  The  Children's  Bread,  etc.'' 

SUNDAY     SERMONETTES      FOR      A     YEAR, 

A  course  of  very  Short  Sermons,  57  in  number,  for  the 
Sundays  of  the  Year,  including  also  Ascension  Day,  Harvest, 
etc.  This  most  useful  vol.,  complete  in  i  vol.,  price  5s.,  by 
post  5s.  4d. 

New  Edition,  7s.  6d.,  by  post  8s. 
MISSION  SERMONS  FOR  A  YEAR.      Including 
68  Short   Plain   Sermons    for  every   Sunday  ;    a  few  Saints' 
Days,  Harvest,  Missions,  Funeral,  Dedication  Festival,  etc. 
"These  sermons  are  excellent  in  matter  and  in  style,  simple  and  pure 
in  diction,  and  perfectly  intelligible,  without  being  thin  or  shallow.     They 
.are  excellent  Sunday  morning  sermons  for  almost  any  kind  of  congrega- 
tion."—C/i«rc/i  BelU. 

SERMONS    TO    CHILDREN,    entitled    *'THE 

CHILDREN'S  BREAD."  This  most  excellent  and  successful 
volume  is  really  suited  for  children.  It  is  full  of  anecdotes 
illustrating  its  practical  lessons,  and  the  Publishers  confidently 
recommend  it.     Price  3s.  6d.,  by  post  3s.  9d. 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


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